Swine flu officially becomes pandemic
June 12, 2009
www.who.int
On Thursday the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the first flu pandemic in over four decades, admitting that the spread of the swine flu was “unstoppable”.
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan issued a warning during a press conference that countries around the world should “brace” for more deaths from the H1N1 virus.
She stressed, however, that people should not panic, as declaring a pandemic does not mean that the flu had become more dangerous.
The statement from health organisation came as the number of swine flu cases in several countries increased significantly. In Scotland, for example, the number rose to 337, which is over one-third of the UK total.
Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon revealed figures, warning that a knock-on effect of declaring a pandemic is that vaccines would be made available in Britain at a slower rate due to a massively-increased demand around the world.
According to the WHO, countries in the southern hemisphere will be the first to receive vaccines as they are now in the winter season.
During the press conference, Chan said that it was not possible to stop the spread of the virus.
Chan said: “This means the world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century.”
Thanks to news.scotsman.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.
www.who.int
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