WHO 'may raise alert to pandemic level'

A World Health Organisation spokesman said today the agency may raise its pandemic level to its highest alert, signifying a swine flu pandemic.

WHO uses a six-level scale to assess the world’s risk. Last Wednesday, the agency raised the level to 5. Level 6 means a global outbreak of swine flu is under way.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said today the organisation has to be open to all possibilities and future plans will be dictated by the virus.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, WHO chief Margaret Chan implied the agency might raise its alert to level 6. She played down the impact of going to level 6 saying she was concerned about causing unnecessary panic.

WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said he could not immediately verify the translation of Chan’s comments in Spanish, but that they appeared to be consistent with what the global body has said all along.

“We have consistently said a pandemic is imminent. It’s only a matter of time before we move to phase 6 unless the virus suddenly becomes weaker and dies off.”