There might not be much traffic on Mexico City’s streets, but gallows humour about what some call “The Aporkalypse” has been circulating around the metropolis.

“Did you hear that Mexico has become a world power?” goes one joke. “When it sneezes, the whole world gets the flu.”

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With no place to go, television has become one of the only available distractions. But even on the small screen, the disease has made its mark on that most Mexican form of entertainment: the telenovela.

Nothing defines the formulaic soap operas more than overly dramatic kisses. But Televisa, the world’s biggest producer of the soaps, has decreed smooching will be reduced to a minimum in accordance with government guidelines to avoid close contact.