Swine flu: WHO raises alert level
The World Health Organisation claims spread of swine flu is showing no signs of slowing down
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Thursday, 30, Apr 2009 05:56
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the spread of swine flu is showing no signs of slowing down.
The warning came as it raised its alert system to phase five – indicating widespread human-to-human transmission on the virus.
Speaking during the WHO's daily update on the global virus yesterday, assistant director-general Keiji Fukuda said there was now evidence of the infection spreading from person-to-person.
"It is clear that the virus is spreading and we don't see evidence of it slowing down," he told reporters.
Wednesday also saw confirmation of the first death from the virus outside Mexico.
US officials announced a 23-month-old Mexican girl had died in Texas of swine flu.
The WHO said the official number of deaths from the virus now stood at eight, but Mexican officials claim over 170 have died and the number of global casualties is set to rise.
In the United States there are reports of at least 109 confirmed cases of swine flu, with the state of California declaring a state of emergency. In New Zealand there are now 13 confirmed cases, as in Canada.
In Europe, Spanish officials report there have been ten confirmed cases, in Germany three, Switzerland and Austrian one each and five in the UK.
One of the Spanish cases is potentially the most serious as it involves an individual who had not travelled to Mexico.
The official global alert is now just one phase away from a full-scale pandemic.