SWINE FLU OUTBREAK:THE WORLD Health Organisation last night raised the global flu alert level to five, the second-highest phase that indicates "a pandemic is imminent".
The announcement by WHO director-general Margaret Chan came after the first death from swine flu, and the confirmation of the first human-to-human transmission of the virus in Europe. “It is all humanity that is under threat during a pandemic,” she told a news briefing.
The illness has killed as many as 159 people in Mexico and spread to the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and New Zealand.
According to the WHO’s pandemic flu response guidelines, a phase-five alert is called when there is sustained human-to-human spread of the virus in at least two countries in one region.
“While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of phase five is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise the organisation, communication and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short,” the document reads.
The change in level puts governments on alert about the need to stockpile antiviral drugs such as Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Inc, and accelerates pharmaceutical industry efforts to create a vaccine to fight the swine flu strain.
The higher alert also signals the virus is unlikely to fade away, and could pose a prolonged public health threat.
Earlier yesterday France said it would today press for a European Union ban on flights to Mexico.
The US, EU and other countries have discouraged non-essential travel to Mexico, while Argentina and Cuba have already banned flights as governments made fresh moves to try to contain the spread of the disease which has reached nine countries on four continents.
The first case of direct transmission in Europe is a Spanish man who caught the flu after his girlfriend brought the virus back with her from a holiday in Mexico.
Marina Geli, head of the health service in Catalonia, said yesterday that the man and his girlfriend were two of six patients in the eastern Spanish region to have tested positive. There are now 10 confirmed cases in Spain.
New cases have appeared across the globe including in Germany and Austria. Thirteen people are infected in Canada, 14 in New Zealand and five in Britain.
The death toll in Mexico rose to 159 yesterday but attention focused on the first death beyond its borders – that of a 23-month-old Mexican boy on a family visit to Texas. In Egypt, the government ordered the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs even though the UN has said the virus cannot be spread by contact with pork. – (Additional reporting Reuters)