Global Swine Flu death toll creeps towards 16,000: WHO

Updated on : Saturday, February 20, 2010

GENEVA: The global death toll from swine flu approached the 16,000 mark as the pandemic waned in much of Europe and Asia, the World Health Organisation said.

"As of 14 February 2010, worldwide more than 212 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 15,921 deaths," the WHO said in its latest update.

The toll recorded since the A(H1N1) pandemic virus was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April grew by 629 compared to the previous week.

Several countries in West Africa reported increases in cases after swine flu was recently detected there, but the WHO concluded there was insufficient evidence so far that swine flu was spreading widely in local communities.

"In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, overall pandemic influenza activity continued to decline in most countries," despite pockets of activity, the WHO said.

Swine Flu toll reaches 14,142: WHO

Updated on : Saturday, January 23, 2010

GENEVA: The death toll from the swine flu pandemic has risen to at least 14,142, up 588 from a week ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Announcing its latest data on the spread of A(H1N1) virus, the UN health body said North Africa, South Asia and limited areas of Eastern Europe were now seeing the most intense transmission of the virus. The pandemic in the northern hemisphere peaked between late October and late November, WHO said.

Since the virus first appeared in Mexico last year, the Americas have recorded the greatest number of fatalities, with at least 7,094 deaths. At least 3,099 have died in Europe and at least 2,877 in the East Asia and Pacific region, WHO said.

Swine flu toll reaches 12,799: WHO

Updated on : Saturday, January 9, 2010

GENEVA: Swine flu has killed at least 12,799 people worldwide since it first emerged in Mexico in March 2009, the World Health Organisation said.

The latest data posted by the UN health agency marked an increase of 579 deaths from the previous update published nine days ago.

The Americas continues to report the biggest number of casualties with at least 6,880 deaths while in Europe, at least 2,554 people have died from the A(H1N1) virus.

Swine Flu 'not stoppable', WHO says

Updated at: 0442 PST, Friday, June 12, 2009

GENEVA: The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.

Increasing the alert to Phase 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said.

"This is an important and challenging day for all of us," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a briefing with reporters. "We are moving into the early days of the first flu pandemic of the 21st century."

The last previous pandemic occurred in 1968.

As of Thursday, the virus had spread to 74 countries, the health agency said. There were 28,774 confirmed cases and 144 deaths.

The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said June 5 in its weekly update. Cases have been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The U.S. death toll is expected be higher when the CDC releases its latest figures Friday, said Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

New England -- particularly Massachusetts -- and the New York and New Jersey areas have been hit the hardest, Schuchat said Thursday at a CDC news conference.

The Phase 6 pandemic designation had been widely expected for weeks.

"Further spread is considered inevitable," Chan said at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. "The scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met."

The announcement came after a meeting of the WHO's Emergency Committee, which has debated since April whether the spread of a novel H1N1 flu virus was fast and widespread enough to warrant a Phase 6 designation.

1,124 cases of swine flu confirmed in humans: WHO

Updated at: 1435 PST, Tuesday, May 05, 2009

GENEVA: The World Health Organization has raised its tally of confirmed human cases of swine flu to 1,124 from 1,025.

There have been 26 confirmed deaths. The global body says 21 countries have now reported laboratory-confirmed cases. The United States has 286 cases and one death.

Mexico has reported 590 cases and 25 deaths. According to the latest figures Tuesday Canada has 140 cases, Spain has 54, Britain has 18, Germany has eight, New Zealand has six, France and Israel have four each, Italy and El Salvador have two each.

Austria, China, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Republic of Korea and Switzerland have one each. WHO figures are often behind those reported by national health authorities.

WHO labs confirm 658 new flu infections worldwide

Updated at: 1545 PST, Sunday, May 03, 2009

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation said on Sunday its laboratories had confirmed a total of 658 H1N1 flu infections in 16 countries, including 16 deaths in Mexico.

The WHO's toll lags national reports about the virus but is considered more scientifically secure. The Mexican government said on Saturday that out of more than 100 suspected deaths from the strain, 19 had been confirmed. Authorities in the country, which has been most affected by the disease, had previously made an estimate of 176 suspected deaths.

The WHO's most recent figures say that 397 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.

The WHO has also confirmed flu infections, without deaths, in the following countries: Austria (1), Canada (51), Hong Kong- China Region (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), France (2), Germany (6), Israel (3), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), South Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and Britain (15).

WHO raises flu alert to five as pandemic 'imminent'

Updated at: 0249 PST, Thursday, April 30, 2009

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation on Wednesday raised its flu alert to phase five out of six, WHO chief Margaret Chan said, signalling that a pandemic was "imminent" following the swine flu outbreak.

"I have decided to raise the influenza pandemic alert from phase four to phase five," the WHO director general announced after an emergency meeting of the UN health agency's pandemic experts.

"This is a signal to governments, ministries of health... to the pharmaceutical industry, that certain actions now should be undertaken with increased urgency," she told journalists.

She underlined that the threat following the swine flu outbreak focused on Mexico and the United States "must be taken seriously."

Phase five, one step short of a full pandemic, is characterised as a "strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise... the planned mitigation measures is short," according to the WHO's global emergency planning.

"All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans," said Chan, adding that thanks to preparations made following the avian flu outbreak, countries are now better prepared than before to deal with a pandemic.

"Preparedness measures undertaken because of the H5N1 influenza was an investment and we are now benefitting from this investment," she said.

The move came after a meeting of scientific experts on the emergency flu pandemic panel recommended raising the level from four.

Earlier, a senior WHO official said there was no evidence that the spread of the swine flu virus was slowing.

WHO raises Swine Flu threat level to phase 4

Updated at: 2122 PST, Tuesday, April 28, 2009

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level over the swine flu virus to phase four on Tuesday. So far the outbreak has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and spread to the United States, Canada and Europe.

“This can be interpreted as a significant step towards pandemic influenza, but also it is a phase which says that we are not there yet,” acting WHO assistant director-General Keiji Fukuda told a conference here.

Fukuda said the virus was too widespread to make containment feasible and that closing borders and imposing travel restrictions would do no good at this point. It would be prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for those who developed symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, he added.

Some 40 cases have also been confirmed in the US, with 28 of them in New York. The rest are in California, Texas and Ohio. There have also been six cases in Canada.

While EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou advised yesterday that people should not travel to affected areas, Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday evening she was not advising anybody to restrict their travel.

The WHO has not advised people to restrict their travel either, and the organisation’s advice will be closely monitored and followed.

Meanwhile, all necessary precautionary measures have been completed to prevent the spread of swine flu in Pakistan, Director General Health, Prof Dr Rasheed Jumma said.

Talking to Geo news, he said high alert has been declared at National Institute of Health to cope with any emergency. Also close contacts have been maintained with World Health Organisation to deal with any emergency.

The health authorities have sought the assistance of immigration officials to track down and check the health of passengers who have arrived from the affected countries, Juma said.

Screening of selected international passengers has also been ordered to bolster vigilance, he concluded.