The World Health Organization does not plan to raise its pandemic alert to the highest level if the current outbreak of a deadly new strain of flu continues as is, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said today.
Addressing an informal session of the UN General Assembly on the outbreak, Mr Ban said WHO chief Margaret Chan had told him "that if the situation remains as it is, WHO has no plan to raise the alert level to 6 at this moment."
Ms Chan, addressing the conference by videolink from Geneva, said the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza reported to the WHO had passed the 1,000 mark to stand at 1,003 from 20 countries.
But she said there was "no indication that we are facing a situation similar to that in 1918," when a flu pandemic killed tens of millions.
Six is the highest level on the WHO's scale for the spread of a pandemic. Ms Chan said there was no indication how long the alert would remain at its current level of 5.
Mr Ban said he planned to convene a meeting of donors and the private sector in Geneva in two weeks time to help ensure the world's countries had the resources to fight the pandemic.
The WHO has also confirmed flu infections in Canada, Spain, Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Israel, El Salvador, France Ireland, Hong Kong, Austria, Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and South Korea.
The WHO is waiting to see evidence of sustained spread of the virus outside of the Americas region before raising its global alert level from five to the highest level, six, and declaring a full pandemic.
Asked yesterday about the relatively large number of infections confirmed in Spain, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said most of those appeared to be "imported" cases involving people returning from Mexico, the disease epicentre, and not a situation where the virus was spreading widely through the Spanish population.
Mexico announced its swine flu epidemic had passed the worst and experts said the new H1N1 virus might be no more severe than normal flu, although it could still have an impact on world health.
Health minister Jose Angel Cordova showed journalists a graph indicating infections in Mexico, the epicentre of the H1N1 flu outbreak, had fallen sharply from a peak on April 24th.
"The admittance of patients to hospitals has decreased and the health of patients in hospitals has improved," he told a news conference.
Twenty-two people are confirmed to have died from the virus. This was more than the 19 confirmed deaths previously announced but Mr Cordova said the tests were simply clarifying a backlog of suspected cases.
But new cases of the virus, which mixes swine, avian and human flu strains, still were being tracked across the world, keeping up fears of a pandemic.
The WHO urged governments around the world not to lower their guard and to cooperate to prevent the flu spreading.
Mexican president Felipe Calderon rejected complaints at home that his government overreacted by shutting down public life for five days to prevent infection.
"This is a totally new virus in the world," Mr Calderon told Mexican television. "We acted decisively, energetically and properly."
After days of alarm that had kept streets eerily quiet, Mexico City appeared more relaxed on yesterday, with some people venturing out on bikes or running. Many no longer wore the surgical masks that have been almost obligatory in the city in the last week as residents feared infection.
In the United States, the flu has spread to 30 states and infected 226 people, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. It seems to be hitting mostly younger people, with very few cases in those over 50 years old.
CDC acting director Richard Besser said there were "encouraging signs" the new strain was not more severe than what would be seen during normal seasonal flu.
But he still expected the virus to have a "significant impact" on people's health". "We're not out of the woods," Besser told "Fox News Sunday.
The US government said it hoped to have a vaccine ready for the new flu strain by the autumn.
Health officials and scientists from around the world have been focusing on how the new mutated flu strain may be passed between animals and humans.
Mexico has seen a stabilisation of serious cases in the past few days, bringing some relief to millions of people who have stayed indoors in line with a government order for non-essential businesses to remain closed through Wednesday.
Reuters