World 'getting closer' to swine flu pandemic: WHO

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 3-Jun-2009 01:55 hrs 

DNA test kits for the A(H1N1) virus at a laboratory in Southampton, Britain. A senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official has warned that the world is "getting closer" to a swine flu pandemic as some countries outside the Americas are showing early signs of flu spreading locally. 

The world is "getting closer" to a swine flu pandemic as some countries outside the Americas are showing early signs of flu spreading locally, a senior World Health Organisation official said Tuesday.

"Globally we believe that we are at phase five but are getting closer to phase six," said Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, referring to the agency's six-level pandemic alert system. — AFP


From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.

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