WHO set to officially declare swine flu pandemic

Nursing Times understands that WHO has raised its pandemic alert level to six, the highest possible, which means the virus is now being transmitted among communities across the world.

Governments must now implement their pandemic flu plans urgently to prevent the disease from spreading further.

The pandemic phase is characterised by community outbreaks in at least two countries in one WHO region, plus community outbreaks in at least one country in another WHO region.

There are around 28,000 officially reported incidents of swine flu across the world, in 74 countries and 141people have died from swine flu.

WHO director-general, Dr Margaret Chan, is understood to have taken the decision to declare the pandemic following a rapid increase in cases in Australia and New Zealand.

If swine flu becomes widespread in the UK, nurses may be called out of retirement to check on infected people at their homes.

Steve Barnett, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘The challenge facing all parts of the health service should not be underestimated and hospitals, PCTs and ambulance services will all need to use the next few weeks to ensure that they are prepared for a major flu outbreak.

‘Everything needs to be in place, from the establishment of anti-viral collection points in the community to planning for larger numbers of hospitalised children to deal with a situation that few working in the service have ever experienced,’ he said.

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment.