Mexico City, April 28 (Inditop) Mexico has ordered schools nationwide to shut down because of the ongoing swine flu epidemic, health secretary Jose Angel Cordoba said.

The government Monday decided to extend an earlier order to close schools in some of the 32 states and the capital city to all schools nationwide.

The shutdown of educational institutions, ranging from universities to kindergartens, is expected to last till May 6.

Cordoba told a news conference late Monday that the toll from confirmed or suspected swine flu cases has risen to 152.

Officials said most of the people who were killed in the flu epidemic were adults aged between 20 and 50. No cases in children have been reported yet.