[Today's News] from [The Guardian]
Swine flu: WHO raises pandemic threat level
• Mexican death toll passes 150
• Infected British couple named
Chris McGreal in Washington, Severin Carrell and Patrick Wintour and Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009 09.34 BST
Article history
The World Health Organisation's emergency committee raised the pandemic threat level for swine flu last night after the death toll in Mexico rose above 150, the number of cases in the US doubled and the first infections were confirmed in Britain.
Flights to Mexico were being cancelled this morning, and arrangements were being put in place to bring British holidaymakers home after the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the country. All Thomson and First Choice flights out of Manchester this week were grounded until restrictions are lifted.
Passengers due to fly to Mexico with Thomson this morning said they had been offered their money back or an alternative holiday. The company said it was now making arrangements to get customers home from Mexico, and repatriation flights were expected to start today.
THe Foreign Office advised British citizens living in Mexico to "consider whether they should remain".
The WHO committee said the increased threat level, from phase three to phase four (out of a possible six), recognised that the crisis had taken a significant step toward pandemic, but that did not mean one was inevitable. Nonetheless, it said, the virus had spread so far that containment was "not a feasible operation", and the international response should be to try to limit its transmission and treat those affected.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergencies committee this morning.
The Scottish couple suffering from swine flu were named today as Iain and Dawn Askham, from Polmont, near Falkirk. They had been in Mexico on honeymoon in Cancún.
About 22 friends, family and colleagues who had close contact with them were being observed and had been given antiviral drugs. Seven of these were showing "mild symptoms" of the illness. The group being monitored reportedly includes a five-year-old child.
Last night the Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said the couple were recovering well at Monklands hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Medics at Manchester airport treated a passenger arriving from Mexico this morning who had complained of feeling unwell on the flight, the Health Protection Agency said. Tests were being done to find out if the young woman had swine flu. She had been sent home.
The first confirmed case in Europe came yesterday in Spain, where 26 other cases are suspected. There are four suspected cases in the Irish Republic.
The suspected number of deaths rose to 152 in Mexico, with nearly 2,000 people believed to be infected. Today, a South Korean woman tested positive for swine flu, making her a "probable" case, the country's authorities said.
In an indication of the seriousness with which the threat is being taken in the UK, the Guardian has learned that if the situation deteriorates Johnson is considering warning the entire population to set up a support network of friends and relatives, so they can be quickly quarantined at home if they are thought to have symptoms. The friends would then collect medicine on their behalf. He abandoned plans to give this advice as one of his four key messages yesterday in a Commons statement.
He told MPs it was too early to say if there was a pandemic, but the UK had been preparing for one for five years and had a stock of 33m anti-flu drugs. He said it was important to note that outside Mexico all those who had shown symptoms of swine flu had recovered.
Yesterday the WHO said it was "very concerned" about the spread, after bringing forward a meeting of its emergency committee to raise the pandemic level to phase four, which recognises that there is now sustained transmission of the infection from human to human. It is two phases short of a pandemic.
Mexico's health secretary, José Ángel Córdova, said he expected more people to die. In response, the government closed schools across the country. Nearly 2,000 people had been treated in hospital for suspected infection, he said. Half of them had been released.
Córdova admitted that the health authorities lacked the staff to check on all suspected cases. Some foreign health officials fear such difficulties may be contributing to the disease's spread.
In New York, the number of confirmed cases among students at a school rose to 28, with more than 100 suspected. That brought the number of confirmed cases in the US to 42 in five states, twice as many as reported at the weekend.
Peru and Guatemala reported the first suspected infections in other parts of Latin America, where health officials fear swine flu has already spread but so far gone undetected.
The EU health commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou, caused a political stir by urging Europeans to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico and the US, but backtracked slightly after criticism from the US and WHO. But that was too late to stop travel agencies and tour operators cancelling flights to Mexico and the share prices of airline companies were hit because of the pandemic fears.
Gauging the spread: WHO viral infection phases
Phase 1: No animal viruses circulating are causing infections in humans.
Phase 2: An animal flu virus is known to have caused human infection and is considered a potential pandemic threat.
Phase 3: Limited human-to-human transmission may occur. This does not indicate the virus has gained transmissibility that would cause a pandemic.
Phase 4: Human-to-human transmission able to cause "community-level outbreaks". Significant increase in pandemic risk but it is not a foregone conclusion.
Phase 5: Human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. A strong signal that pandemic is imminent.
Phase 6: Pandemic phase, characterised by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region along with phase 5.
Swine flu: WHO raises pandemic threat level
• Mexican death toll passes 150
• Infected British couple named
Chris McGreal in Washington, Severin Carrell and Patrick Wintour and Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009 09.34 BST
Article history
The World Health Organisation's emergency committee raised the pandemic threat level for swine flu last night after the death toll in Mexico rose above 150, the number of cases in the US doubled and the first infections were confirmed in Britain.
Flights to Mexico were being cancelled this morning, and arrangements were being put in place to bring British holidaymakers home after the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the country. All Thomson and First Choice flights out of Manchester this week were grounded until restrictions are lifted.
Passengers due to fly to Mexico with Thomson this morning said they had been offered their money back or an alternative holiday. The company said it was now making arrangements to get customers home from Mexico, and repatriation flights were expected to start today.
THe Foreign Office advised British citizens living in Mexico to "consider whether they should remain".
The WHO committee said the increased threat level, from phase three to phase four (out of a possible six), recognised that the crisis had taken a significant step toward pandemic, but that did not mean one was inevitable. Nonetheless, it said, the virus had spread so far that containment was "not a feasible operation", and the international response should be to try to limit its transmission and treat those affected.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergencies committee this morning.
The Scottish couple suffering from swine flu were named today as Iain and Dawn Askham, from Polmont, near Falkirk. They had been in Mexico on honeymoon in Cancún.
About 22 friends, family and colleagues who had close contact with them were being observed and had been given antiviral drugs. Seven of these were showing "mild symptoms" of the illness. The group being monitored reportedly includes a five-year-old child.
Last night the Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said the couple were recovering well at Monklands hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Medics at Manchester airport treated a passenger arriving from Mexico this morning who had complained of feeling unwell on the flight, the Health Protection Agency said. Tests were being done to find out if the young woman had swine flu. She had been sent home.
The first confirmed case in Europe came yesterday in Spain, where 26 other cases are suspected. There are four suspected cases in the Irish Republic.
The suspected number of deaths rose to 152 in Mexico, with nearly 2,000 people believed to be infected. Today, a South Korean woman tested positive for swine flu, making her a "probable" case, the country's authorities said.
In an indication of the seriousness with which the threat is being taken in the UK, the Guardian has learned that if the situation deteriorates Johnson is considering warning the entire population to set up a support network of friends and relatives, so they can be quickly quarantined at home if they are thought to have symptoms. The friends would then collect medicine on their behalf. He abandoned plans to give this advice as one of his four key messages yesterday in a Commons statement.
He told MPs it was too early to say if there was a pandemic, but the UK had been preparing for one for five years and had a stock of 33m anti-flu drugs. He said it was important to note that outside Mexico all those who had shown symptoms of swine flu had recovered.
Yesterday the WHO said it was "very concerned" about the spread, after bringing forward a meeting of its emergency committee to raise the pandemic level to phase four, which recognises that there is now sustained transmission of the infection from human to human. It is two phases short of a pandemic.
Mexico's health secretary, José Ángel Córdova, said he expected more people to die. In response, the government closed schools across the country. Nearly 2,000 people had been treated in hospital for suspected infection, he said. Half of them had been released.
Córdova admitted that the health authorities lacked the staff to check on all suspected cases. Some foreign health officials fear such difficulties may be contributing to the disease's spread.
In New York, the number of confirmed cases among students at a school rose to 28, with more than 100 suspected. That brought the number of confirmed cases in the US to 42 in five states, twice as many as reported at the weekend.
Peru and Guatemala reported the first suspected infections in other parts of Latin America, where health officials fear swine flu has already spread but so far gone undetected.
The EU health commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou, caused a political stir by urging Europeans to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico and the US, but backtracked slightly after criticism from the US and WHO. But that was too late to stop travel agencies and tour operators cancelling flights to Mexico and the share prices of airline companies were hit because of the pandemic fears.
Gauging the spread: WHO viral infection phases
Phase 1: No animal viruses circulating are causing infections in humans.
Phase 2: An animal flu virus is known to have caused human infection and is considered a potential pandemic threat.
Phase 3: Limited human-to-human transmission may occur. This does not indicate the virus has gained transmissibility that would cause a pandemic.
Phase 4: Human-to-human transmission able to cause "community-level outbreaks". Significant increase in pandemic risk but it is not a foregone conclusion.
Phase 5: Human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. A strong signal that pandemic is imminent.
Phase 6: Pandemic phase, characterised by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region along with phase 5.
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