MEXICO CITY - MEXICO'S flu epidemic will cut hotel occupancy rates in the country's main resorts to around 50 per cent between May 1 and May 10, the tourism ministry said Friday.

Cancun, a popular spot for Europeans and Americans on the Yucatan Peninsula, has seen 70 per cent cancellations and an occupancy rate of 44.8 per cent for the period, the statement said.

The luxury Los Cabos resort on the northwestern Baja California peninsula has only 28 per cent hotel occupancy, while farther south, the Pacific resort of Puerta Vallarta recorded 1,200 cancellations.

The tourist office in the famous resort of Acapulco announced occupancy rates of 64 per cent on Friday as many Mexico City residents fled a virtual shutdown in the capital for a five-day national holiday.

Hotels in Mexico City, the sprawling capital at the heart of the epidemic, saw April occupancy rates between 10 and 15 per cent, industry officials said.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Friday the confirmed Mexican death toll now stood at 15 dead and 328 people infected from the H1N1 flu. -- AFP