WHO Declares Phase 6 - Full Pandemic Due to Novel H1N1 Spread

[sharon sanders]

via email -

WHO’s Ryan Says Flu Pandemic Still ‘Imminent’
2009-05-02 15:42:44.189 GMT


By Dermot Doherty
May 2 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization probably
will go to phase 6 on its pandemic alert scale because of the
outbreak of swine flu, said Michael Ryan, the WHO’s director of
global alert and response.
“I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent,” Ryan
said at a news conference in Geneva, where the UN health agency
is based. “At this stage we have to expect that phase 6 will be
reached; we have to hope that it won’t be reached.”
The WHO still isn’t seeing sustained community transmission
of the virus, known formally as influenza A H1N1, outside of
North America, he said.

[Diane Morin]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

<!-- google_ad_section_start(name=article) -->Machine translation

Porcine influenza: WHO is unaware of the degree of gravity of pandemia

41 minutes ago

GENEVA (AFP) - the WHO ?does not know at which point pandemia (of porcine influenza) can be serious?, indicated to Saturday a person in charge of the organization which estimated that the evolution of the situation of the ?next days in Europe? will be determining.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the phase of alarm 5 for an ?imminent? pandemia. The maximum level of alarm 6, which was not started yet, ?described the state of pandemia, but not its degree of gravity?, underlined Dr. Michael Ryan, director with the WHO of the World network of alarm and action in the event of epidemic.

The Mexican government estimated Friday which the virus was not ?as aggressive? as dreaded. The porcine influenza, indicated by WHO as the ?influenza has (H1N1)?, made to date 17 died confirmed by the world health authority, including 16 in Mexico.

The evolution of the situation in the ?next days in Europe? will make it possible to determine with which point the mutant virus was propagated in a new continent, condition of the setting in maximum pandemic alarm of level 6, predicted Dr. Ryan at the time of a press conference.

?Currently, I would still say that a pandemia is imminent because we see the disease being spread. But we did not note a constant transmission yet (apart from the American continent, note). This stage, we must expect that level 6 is reached, but we hope that it will not be it?, he added.
A ?constant? transmission means that ?the disease is spread deeply in a population, and not only within one family circle?, explained Dr. Ryan.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j4Tklar66H8AGqnG1u2QjjZyP0RQ

[Extrapolation]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

WHO Expects To Raise Flu Alert Level To Maximum

By Kent Klein
Washington
02 May 2009

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the H1N1 swine flu virus continues to spread around the world, with the number of confirmed cases reaching 615, in 17 countries. WHO officials say they expect to raise their alert to the highest level. But experts say the spread of the flu is slowing down in Mexico, where the outbreak started.

The WHO's alert level for the virus remains at phase five of six, meaning a global outbreak is imminent. Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO Director of Global Alert and Response, says he expects that level to be raised. "At the present time, I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent because we are seeing the disease spread to other countries. We have not seen yet that sustained transmission outside one WHO region. At this point we have to expect that phase six will be reached. We have to hope that it is not," he said.

Dr. Ryan says good preparedness will help mitigate the effects of a pandemic. He also says the WHO has sent millions of treatments of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu to more than 70 developing countries, thanks to an earlier donation by a pharmaceutical company. "We have begun to dispatch 2.4 million doses of antiviral to 72 countries, including to Mexico, from stocks donated by Roche (pharmaceutical company) in 2005 and 2006," he said.

Authorities in Mexico say there are no new deaths in their country connected to the H1N1 flu. They say they are hopeful that the spread of the virus is slowing.

But Mexican and U.S. health officials warn that it is too early to determine whether the worst is over. Dr. Anne Schuchat, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the virus is still spreading in the United States. "While reports from Mexico appear to be encouraging, and some are cautiously optimistic, we cannot afford to let down our vigilance," she said.

U.S. President Barack Obama says his government is distributing drugs that can defeat the current strain of H1N1. He has also asked for more money for more medicine and equipment to fight the swine flu. "Out of an abundance of caution, I have also asked Congress for $1.5 billion, if it is needed, to purchase additional antivirals, emergency equipment, and the development of a vaccine that can prevent this virus as we prepare for the next flu season, in the fall," he said.

Mr. Obama talked by phone with Mexico President Felipe Calderon on Saturday, to coordinate their responses to the flu.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-02-voa31.cfm

_______________

if only because the Genie is out of the bottle . . . . they will have to do so - even if kicking and screaming whilst they do so.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

WHO Expecting to Designate Flu Outbreak as Pandemic (Update1)


By Tom Randall and Dermot Doherty

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization may declare the outbreak of H1N1 influenza a pandemic even as many cases of swine flu show symptoms no more severe than seasonal flu, health officials said.

The WHO raised its six-tier alert to 5 on April 29 and a further elevation would signal a pandemic, alerting governments to enact plans to curb the disease. Ireland became the 17th country yesterday to confirm swine flu and the new virus may be spreading in five nations among people unconnected to Mexico, where cases were first reported.

?At this stage we have to expect that phase 6 will be reached; we have to hope that it won?t be,? Michael Ryan, the Geneva-based agency?s director of global alert and response, said at a news conference yesterday. ?I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent.?

Still, the WHO isn?t seeing sustained community transmission outside of North America for the virus, he said.

International health experts said the world is now closer to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when the last of the previous century?s three pandemics occurred. The WHO hasn?t had a single phase 6 alert since it introduced the six-level system in 2005. Before this week, the warning had been at phase 3 since 2007, when it was elevated for an outbreak of avian flu, according to the WHO Web site.

Tracked One Week

In little more than a week, world health authorities have tracked the emergence of the flu from an outbreak in Mexico and a few cases in Texas and California to more than 650 confirmed illness in 17 countries across the globe.

The virus has now struck more people in that time than H5N1 avian influenza, with 421 confirmed cases, has in the past six years. Still, while bird flu has killed almost two-thirds of its victims, fatalities from swine flu are less than 3 percent of those infected, according to WHO data.

The pathogen has shuttered schools and offices in Mexico and the U.S., the next hardest hit country, stirred governments to use their treatment stockpiles, and spurred a quest for a vaccine before the beginning of the next flu season.

The number of confirmed dead from the H1N1 virus in Mexico is 19, up from 16 on May 1, said Mexico?s health minister Jose Cordova at a news conference in Mexico City. Cordova said the number of Mexico?s confirmed cases, including the deaths, rose to 473 from 443, as laboratories in the country work through a backlog of samples.

Campaigning Ban

The government put in place a ban on public campaigning for the July 5 mid-term elections and Mexico City is considering extending its school closures an extra week.

?Mexico has been living up to its duty? to fight the disease, Cordova said.

?We are in a stabilization phase,? he said. ?Still, it is too soon to say we are past the most complicated moment.?

The WHO?s statistics, which lag reports by national and local agencies, confirmed 397 cases in Mexico and 658 worldwide. It listed illnesses in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, Hong Kong, New Zealand, France, South Korea and Costa Rica.

The virus is already at pandemic level, according to Ira Longini, a researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle who advises the U.S. government on flu.

?The definition of a pandemic is that the new virus has spread to several countries and is transmissible,? Longini said in an interview yesterday. ?It?s hard to imagine it?s not going to continue to spread in some form.?

Share Information

Ireland yesterday confirmed is first case, a man who had recently returned from a trip to Mexico, according to a statement last night from Tony Holohan, chief medical officer of the Department of Heath and Children.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke yesterday by telephone with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to share information about their countries? efforts to limit the spread of the influenza. They stressed the importance of continuing close cooperation between their governments, according to a White House statement.

?This is a new strain of the influenza virus, and because we haven?t developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm,? Obama said yesterday in his weekly radio and Internet address. ?This creates the potential for a pandemic, which is why we are acting quickly and aggressively.?

Expanding Wave

Obama has asked U.S. lawmakers for $1.5 billion to battle the outbreak and prepare for it to resurface during flu season.

Still, he said the virus hasn?t been as virulent in the U.S. as in Mexico and antiviral treatments have shown to be effective.

The U.K., U.S., Germany, Canada and Spain each confirmed cases in people who didn?t travel to Mexico. The expanding wave of sickness has been similar to seasonal flu, though health authorities are taking no chances with a virus that may flash across the globe, infecting a population with no natural immunity, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York officials said they suspect more than 1,000 cases, so many that the government has stopped testing all but the sickest there.

Evidence suggests ?transmission is widespread, and that less severe illness is common,? the Atlanta-based CDC said in a report May 1. In Mexico ?a large number of undetected cases of illness might exist in persons seeking care in primary-care settings or not seeking care at all,? the CDC report said.

Schools Close

In the U.S., at least 433 schools had closed in 17 states, leaving parents to find other arrangements for 245,449 students, according to the Education Department. Five colleges closed, the department said in an e-mail.

The CDC raised its flu count yesterday to 160 cases in 21 states, including the only U.S. fatality, a 22-month-old child who died April 27 at a Houston hospital. The Boston Globe reported that New Hampshire became the 22nd U.S. state with an illness after authorities confirmed its first H1N1 infection, which had been reported April 30 as probable.

Batches of seed virus are being developed for potential vaccine production, according to WHO. Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield, Illinois, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc of London are talking with world health authorities about producing shots, the agency said.

Production of vaccines against the new H1N1 influenza will be completed ?in parallel with or after the seasonal vaccine is produced,? Nancy Cox, chief of the flu division at the CDC?s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, said at a news conference in Atlanta on May 1.

The three main seasonal flu strains -- H3N2, H1N1 and type- B -- cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally, according to WHO. The new flu?s symptoms are similar, including fever and coughing, nausea and vomiting, according to the CDC.

Authorities advised hand-washing, hygiene and staying home if sick as the most effective ways to control the outbreak.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net. Dermot Doherty in Geneva at ddoherty9@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 3, 2009 01:20 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=asN2WA0aWvdQ

[Legadillo]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

WHO confirms flu in 17 countries
Sun May 3, 2009 7:53am EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Sunday its laboratories had identified a total of 787 H1N1 flu infections in 17 countries, including one case in Ireland, and said there were 19 confirmed deaths in Mexico.

The WHO's toll lags national reports about the virus but is considered more scientifically secure.

Its most recent figures show 506 people have been infected in Mexico and 160 people have been infected in the United States, the two countries most affected by the virus widely known as swine flu. There has also been one U.S. death, identified by authorities there as a Mexican infant.

Earlier on Sunday, WHO had said there were 397 infections in Mexico and 16 deaths there. The U.N. agency said its figures changed because of "ongoing testing of previously collected specimens" and not new reported infections.

Mexico has revised down its estimate of as many as 176 suspected H1N1 deaths after receiving dozens of negative test results. Mexican authorities said on Saturday out of more than 100 suspected deaths from the strain, 19 have been confirmed.

The WHO has also confirmed flu infections, without deaths, in the following countries: Austria (1), Canada (70), Hong Kong - China Region (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), France (2), Germany (6), Ireland (1), Israel (3), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), South Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and Britain (15).

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5420U920090503

[Legadillo]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

Chan hits backs at WHO critics
By Andrew Jack

Published: May 3 2009 14:08 | Last updated: May 3 2009 14:08

The head of the World Health Organisation hit back at critics who have accused it of an over-reaction to the swine flu crisis warning that it may return ”with a vengeance” in the months ahead.

In her first extensive media interview since alerting the world to a potential flu pandemic nine days ago, Margaret Chan, the agency’s director general, told the Financial Times that the end of the flu season in the northern hemisphere meant an initial outbreak could be milder but then a second wave more lethal as happened in 1918.

Fresh data from Mexico suggested the impact of the flu could be less than initially thought. The Mexican government, which had already scaled back its original estimate of 176 deaths, said on Sunday that of the suspected 100 deaths from the H1N1 virus 19 had been confirmed.

But Ms Chan said: ”I’m not predicting the pandemic will blow up, but if I miss it and we don’t prepare, I fail. I’d rather over prepare than not prepare.”

She stressed that a likely increase to the agency’s highest ”level 6” pandemic alert did not necessarily mean ”every country and every individual will be affected” with many more deaths, but rather ”it is a signal to public health authorities to take appropriate measures” such as intensified disease surveillance.

Ms Chan acknowledged frustration with slow release of data on the threat posed by the virus, but defended Mexico, which she stressed had been very co-operative but overwhelmed by extending treatment and limiting the spread of infection as well as analysing cases. She said ”the information is beginning to roll in.”

She reiterated the WHO’s view based on ”the evidence and science available to us” that travel restrictions were counterproductive, adding that although countries had the right under International Health Regulations to take different measures, they would need to justify them publicly.

But she defended recent decisions such as that of Hong Kong and New Zealand to quarantine travellers arriving with suspected flu. ”Some people may say it’s against human rights. But who’s rights are bigger?”

Ms Chan called on pharmaceutical companies to increase their contributions, praising their efforts so far but calling both for fresh donations and for far larger quantities of drugs and vaccines to be sold at lower prices to help treat and protect the poor.

She said she had released over the weekend most of the WHO’s stockpile of the antiviral medicine Tamiflu previously provided by Roche, its manufacturer, which had already agreed to provide more and to propose lower prices. ”They do understand this is not business as usual.”

She hinted at fresh ways to encourage generic companies to produce cheap versions of Tamiflu to expand capacity, pledging to redouble the agency’s system to verify manufacturing quality, and saying she would hold meetings soon with the World Trade Organisation and the World Intellectual Property Organisation over ”flexibilities” to existing rules.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6260d9a-37d4-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html

[Legadillo]

&quot;WHO set to declare Pandemic&quot; ???

WHO set to declare pandemic

Article from: The Australian May 04, 2009

THE World Health Organisation is poised to declare a global swine flu pandemic, despite suggestions by scientists that the H1N1 virus may be no more dangerous than the average seasonal flu and confidence in Mexico that the outbreak is easing.

The virus has spread to an 18th country, Colombia, which reported its first confirmed case, while the number of confirmed cases in Spain doubled to 40.

But Mexico was increasingly optimistic yesterday that the H1N1 flu epidemic was coming under control, after officials said stabilising fatality figures suggested the virus was not as lethal as first feared.

As the Mexican toll crept up to 19 deaths and 454 infected patients, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said, "Each day we're seeing fewer serious cases". One person has died in the US.

WHO is expected to upgrade the outbreak this week to a full pandemic level six on its six-point scale because of the continuing spread of swine flu among people who have not been to Mexico.

WHO will upgrade its alert level to phase six if the virus is passed successively between three unrelated people on two continents. This has occurred in Mexico and the US, and there have been two cases of transmission between two unrelated people in Britain.

The picture emerging of the virus was considerably less dramatic than that painted by the Mexican Government just days earlier, when it spoke of 159 "probable" deaths from the new variant of swine flu. Tests by US and Canadian labs on the mountain of "probable" cases subsequently excluded the majority, and left the much-smaller confirmed toll.

Rigorous containment measures in Mexico, such as closing non-essential businesses and urging people to stay at home during a holiday weekend, had also limited the spread.

Antiviral medicines were found to work against the H1N1 flu.

Still, Mexican, US and international health officials remained cautious, and WHO maintained its warning that a global pandemic was "imminent".

Michael Ryan, WHO director of global alert and response, said there was no evidence yet of a sustained spread of the virus outside North America. He added, however, that a pandemic remained imminent.

Alan Hay, director of WHO's World Influenza Centre in Mill Hill, north London, said there were signs the virus was not as virulent as first feared. Experts believed it might be comparable to seasonal flu, which kills up to 550,000 people a year worldwide.

"This might not be any more virulent than normal seasonal flu infections. We feel reassured that if this develops into a pandemic, it might not be a particularly severe one," Mr Hay said.

Scientists are encouraged by analyses of the DNA sequence of the virus, which has found it lacks the traits that led to the death of nearly 50 million people in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak.

A senior consultant who has been treating swine flu victims said: "The way they are talking, you would think our culture is collapsing. This time last week, we were all incredibly worried because the reports from Mexico were that hospitals were full and people were dying all over the place. Actually, it doesn't seem to be that severe. The symptoms are unpleasant -- fevers, shivering, aches -- but no worse than normal seasonal flu."

WHO medical health officer Nikki Shindo said the biggest concern was that the virus could mutate and become resistant to Tamiflu. The US Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, says 98 per cent of existing H1 flu strains were resistant to Tamiflu in the last flu season.


"The worst-case scenario is that the virus will mutate and become Tamiflu-resistant," Dr Shindo said. "The best-case scenario is it causes only mild illness and continues to respond to Tamiflu."

The Sunday Times, AFP, AP

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25424670-2703,00.html

[hawkeye]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

Reported: 13:30 PM - May/04/09

(IsraelNN.com) World Health Organization head Margaret Chan said on Monday that the WHO may raise the organization?s alert level for H1N1 flu to 6, meaning a full-scale pandemic. She warned that a second wave of the flu may strike across the world.

The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 around the world approached 1,000 of Monday, and the number of confirmed deaths stood at 23, with Mexico hit the hardest. Israel has had four confirmed cases of the virus.

[hawkeye]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

Very long article, this is only a portion.

Report: WHO to Declare Level 6 Flu Pandemic

The World Health Organization is likely to raise its alert for the H1N1 swine flu outbreak to the highest level and declare a pandemic, its director indicated in an interview published on Monday.

"Level six does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because (otherwise) when we announce level six it will cause an unnecessary panic," Reuters reported WHO Director General Margaret Chan told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

"Flu viruses are very unpredictable, very deceptive... We should not be overconfident. One must not give H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses. That is why we are on alert," she reportedly told the newspaper.

Chan warned against over-confidence following a stabilization in the number of new cases of H1N1 because the southern hemisphere was about to enter winter, when flu cases naturally spike.

"We have to be very careful. No one can predict what is going to happen when countries in the south have flu peaks and this new one arrives ? which it is going to do, without a doubt."

"It is true that the number (of cases in people who have not been to Mexico) is small but because of that I would say that we have not seen the full situation or the whole picture of what is happening. The situation is evolving and the virus is changing".

She said it was too early to predict what proportion of the population would catch the new influenza strain after the European Union predicted 40 percent of the population would become infected.

Meanwhile, Mexico decides today whether to reopen businesses and schools or extend a shutdown that has helped choke off the spread of swine flu but caused untold economic harm. The virus continued to spread around the world, with new cases in Europe and North and South America.

[Extrapolation]

WHO, Minutes ago: WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

Reported: 13:30 PM - May/04/09


(IsraelNN.com) World Health Organization head Margaret Chan said on Monday that the WHO may raise the organization?s alert level for H1N1 flu to 6, meaning a full-scale pandemic. She warned that a second wave of the flu may strike across the world.

The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 around the world approached 1,000 of Monday, and the number of confirmed deaths stood at 23, with Mexico hit the hardest. Israel has had four confirmed cases of the virus.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/164565

[sharon sanders]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

"...Flu viruses are very unpredictable, very deceptive... We should not be overconfident. One must not give H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses. That is why we are on alert," she reportedly told the newspaper...."


This is the problem. What will it mix with and when? No one knows......

The best thing to do is to be prepared. Please see the left side bar for some helpful suggestions and also government links in 6 languages.

[Diane Morin]

Re: WHO, Minutes ago: WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

El Pais

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/virus/gripe/tramposos/hay/confiarse/elpepusoc/20090504elpepisoc_3/Tes

[Diane Morin]

Re: WHO, Minutes ago: WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

Machine translation

International 04/05/2009 - 15:59
WHO: No the alarm of level 6

If flu epidemic A-H1N1 remains about it with the present stage, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not intend to raise on the level maximumn - that is to say level 6 - its degree of alarm. It is the general secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who announced it Monday. On her side, the director of WHO, Margaret Chan, explains that in the last pointing, the number of proven cases of influenza A-H1N1 amounted to 1 003, distributed in 20 countries. ?Nothing shows that we are confronted with a situation similar to that of 1918?, it estimates, referring to the Spanish influenza which had then made tens of million died in the world.

http://www.lejdd.fr/cmc/scanner/international/200919/oms-pas-d-alerte-de-niveau-6_206764.html?popup

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[Extrapolation]

Re: WHO, Minutes ago: WHO Chief Warns H1N1 Alert Level May Rise to 6

From FOX NEWS:

Report: WHO to Declare Level 6 Flu Pandemic

Monday , May 04, 2009

The World Health Organization is likely to raise its alert for the H1N1 swine flu outbreak to the highest level and declare a pandemic, its director indicated in an interview published on Monday.

"Level six does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because (otherwise) when we announce level six it will cause an unnecessary panic," Reuters reported WHO Director General Margaret Chan told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

"Flu viruses are very unpredictable, very deceptive... We should not be overconfident. One must not give H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses. That is why we are on alert," she reportedly told the newspaper.

10 Ways to Prevent Swine Flu

Chan warned against over-confidence following a stabilization in the number of new cases of H1N1 because the southern hemisphere was about to enter winter, when flu cases naturally spike.

"We have to be very careful. No one can predict what is going to happen when countries in the south have flu peaks and this new one arrives ? which it is going to do, without a doubt."

Dr. Manny Answers Your Questions on Swine Flu.

"It is true that the number (of cases in people who have not been to Mexico) is small but because of that I would say that we have not seen the full situation or the whole picture of what is happening. The situation is evolving and the virus is changing".

She said it was too early to predict what proportion of the population would catch the new influenza strain after the European Union predicted 40 percent of the population would become infected.

Meanwhile, Mexico decides today whether to reopen businesses and schools or extend a shutdown that has helped choke off the spread of swine flu but caused untold economic harm. The virus continued to spread around the world, with new cases in Europe and North and South America.

President Felipe Calderon said a nationwide shutdown and an aggressive informational campaign appeared to have helped curtail the outbreak in Mexico. His health secretary said the government is starting preparations for the return to classes and work, and plans to give safety recommendations to businesses and disinfect schools on Monday.

"We have succeeded in detaining or at least slowing the spread of the virus precisely because the measures have been the correct ones," Calderon said in an interview with state television broadcast Sunday night.

Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said the virus had killed at least 22 people in Mexico, raising the toll from 19, adding that the last confirmed death occurred April 29. He said the virus had sickened at least 568 people and apparently peaked in Mexico between April 23 and April 28.

While Mexico began its first tentative steps toward a return to normalcay, the virus spread to Colombia in the first confirmed case in South America, worrisome because flu season is about to begin in the Southern Hemisphere. More cases were confirmed in North America and Europe, with the total number sickened worldwide rising to at least 1,001 people, according to health and government officials.

Health officials raised the number of confirmed U.S. swine flu cases to 245 in 35 states late Sunday. The new number, up from 160 on Saturday, reflects streamlining in federal procedures and the results of tests by states, which have only recently begun confirming cases, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials in New Mexico announced that 14 schools in four towns were being closed for at least a week after the state's first swine flu case was confirmed, and the New Mexico Activities Association suspended all athletic and activity programs until further notice at member schools across the state. California officials suspended all visitations at prisons pending results of tests on an ill inmate at Centinela State Prison.

In Alberta, Canada, officials quarantined about 220 pigs that became infected from a worker who had recently returned from Mexico. It was the first documented case of the H1N1 virus being passed from a human to another species. Canada stressed that pigs often get the flu and there is no danger in eating pork.

In Trinidad, crew aboard a Mexican tanker had been isolated since Friday at the Point Lisas Port. The Ministry of Health said Sunday that they were tested and cleared of any flu infection and that the vessel was expected to be released.

Hong Kong isolated 350 people in a hotel after a Mexican traveler there was determined to have swine flu.

China quarantined more than 70 Mexican travelers in hospitals and hotels there, and Mexicans on arriving flights were being taken into isolation, said Mexico's ambassador, Jorge Guajardo. Even the Mexican consul in Guangzhou was briefly held after returning from a vacation in Cambodia, Guajardo said.

Calderon complained of the backlash against Mexicans abroad.

"I think it's unfair that because we have been honest and transparent with the world some countries and places are taking repressive and discriminatory measures because of ignorance and disinformation," Calderon said. "There are always people who are seizing on this pretext to assault Mexicans, even just verbally."

The president did not single out any country. But the Foreign Relations Department said afterward that Mexico was sending a chartered jetliner Monday to bring back any citizens who wanted to leave China. A statement said the plane would go to several Chinese cities "where Mexicans have expressed their intention to return to Mexico."

China's Foreign Ministry denied it was discriminating against Mexicans.

The CDC's acting chief, Dr. Richard Besser, said swine flu is spreading just as easily as regular winter flu.

"The good news is when we look at this virus right now, we're not seeing some of the things in the virus that have been associated in the past with more severe flu," Besser said. "That's encouraging, but it doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet."

Cordova said late Sunday that Mexico's government would start distributing swine flu safety recommendations to businesses, but warned the national lockdown would not be lifted in one fell swoop.

The reopening "will not happen just like that," Cordova said at a news conference. "There will have to be training, preparations for teachers and parents."

Possible safety recommendations would be that there be a 2-meter (6.5-foot) distance kept between people in restaurants or theaters and that workers be urged to wear masks on the subway. He said a decision on whether to extend or end the business and school shutdown was expected Monday.

Cordova presented the most comprehensive description yet of the dead in Mexico, although no conclusions have yet ben drawn about how their characterics may have contributed to their deaths.

He said 15 were female and seven were men. One possible explanation could be that women get poorer health care in Mexico because of its male-dominated culture, he said.

Cordova also said only 4 percent were unemployed; the rest either had jobs or were housewives and students. More than 50 percent had not graduated from high school and only 11 percent had university education.

Pablo Kuri, an epidemiologist advising Cordova, told The Associated Press on Sunday that tests have confirmed a swine flu death in Mexico City on April 11, two days earlier than what had been believed to be the first death.

Kuri also said there have been no deaths among health care workers treating swine flu patients in Mexico, an indication that the virus may not be as contagious or virulent as initially feared.

According to tallies by the CDC, World Health Organization and governments, there were 101 confirmed cases of swine flu in Canada; 40 in Spain; 18 in Britain; eight in Germany; four in New Zealand and Israel; two each in Italy and France; one each in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ireland, Switzerland, South Korea; Austria, Hong Kong, Denmark and the Netherlands.

______________________

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

? Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2009 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
All market data delayed 20 minutes.

[sharon sanders]

Re: WHO Will Probably Go to Phase 6 Because of Outbreak of 2009 H1N1

She did not say anything new.

It is common knowledge that WHO is considering moving to Phase 6.

We need to prepare but we need to live our lives.

We need to watch for the possible genetic changes in both H1N1 and H5N1.