New Delhi/ Geneva: Seeing the swine flu virus spread within a raft of countries, the United Nations health agency has raised the international alert by one level to Phase 5 on a six-point scale.

The move by World Health Organisation (WHO) is a strong indicator of an imminent pandemic characterised by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries.

Announcing this in Geneva the WHO Director General Margaret Chan called upon the world to urgently intensify preparations to thwart the spread of the disease.

"This is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical and the business communities, that certain actions now should be undertaken with extreme urgency," Chan said announcing the move during a teleconference with the world press.

WHO did not rule out that it may yet up the level once more, to the highest-possible phase 6, which would mean that a global pandemic was underway.

Chan said all countries should activate pandemic flu plans, which had been prepared following the avian flu outbreak earlier this decade, and called on governments and health authorities to be on high alert for influenza-like illnesses and pneumonia.

WHO said the decision to make the transition to Phase 5 was based on the geographical spread of the disease as well as the fact that evidence supported sustained human-to-human transmission at the community level.

"We are seeing this in Mexico, and as information emerges from the US authorities we are also seeing that there," Chan said.

Fortunately, she said the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than any time in history, due to the substantial investments made to prepare for the H5N1 virus, or avian flu.  

In an earlier teleconference, WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda said that there has been an increase in lab-confirmed cases—from 79 to 114—that have been reported in Canada, the US, Mexico, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

"It's clear that the virus is spreading, and we don't see any evidence of it slowing down at this point," he warned.

Fukuda further said that while preliminary results showed that the virus did originate in pigs, there was no evidence that people are now getting sick from pigs or pork products.

He emphasised that experts are continuing to study the situation and that there are still unanswered questions—for example, it is currently unclear whether people, upon becoming infected, will develop mild or severe illness.

Fukuda had on Tuesday said that WHO is working to facilitate the process needed to develop a vaccine effective against the swine flu virus, which the agency noted could take around four to six months, plus more months to build up substantial stocks.

Meanwhile, the Security Council, which is holding an open debate on the situation of children caught up in armed conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for international unity on the swine flu outbreak.

"This really requires the whole international community's cooperation, and I count on the leadership and commitment of not only the Council member States, but the whole international community," he said.

While Phase 6 would mean that the new outbreak had taken on global dimensions, it would not indicate how severe the disease had become. "A pandemic virus is precarious, unpredictable and will take us by surprise," Chan said.

Numerous times during her press conference, Chan stressed that the nature of the virus was still not yet fully understood, including how severe the disease could get. She said the virus was showing signs that it could range from very mild to quite severe.

"Let me say it is important to take this very seriously, to maintain vigilance and to track the virus as it evolves," Chan said, but cautioned that the world needs to maintain a level of calmness to manage this in a rational manner.

There was no need for border closures, restrictions on movement of people, good or services, and to stop eating properly cooked pork products.

However, there was still need for awareness, also at an individual level, and WHO officials reminded people to maintain proper hygiene and limit some physical contact, such as greeting friends with hugs and kisses.

The UN agency had raised the pandemic alert level from Phase 3 to Phase 4 on Monday this week.
—iGovernment Bureau / IANS