WHO's Chan "will not shy away" from pandemic alert

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of the World Health Organization said Thursday she would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the new H1N1 flu is spreading globally.

But with pressure growing for her to factor in the severity of the newly-discovered disease as well as its spread, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said she would take her time to weigh the options before sounding the alarm.

"When I see more signals coming from the virus itself or the spread of the disease, including severity, I would not shy away from making a very difficult decision. I would not compromise the world people's health," the former Hong Kong health director told officials at her United Nations agency's annual meeting.

According to the latest WHO count, more than 11,000 people have caught the H1N1 flu, of whom 85 died.

Chan appeared to stray from the WHO's textbook definition of a pandemic -- which would only require the virus to be spreading in two regions of the world -- saying that she is waiting for it to take hold in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

"For Phase 5 to Phase 6 I need to satisfy myself that this is a global phenomenon," she said, as Asia sought to boost its protection against the virus that has now infected 249 people in Japan, the largest pocket outside North America.

Large clusters of H1N1 infections have also been confirmed in Britain and Spain, and a total of 41 countries worldwide have now been touched with the virus, that spreads through coughs, sneezes and droplets like the common flu.

The decision lies solely with Chan, 61, about when and if to declare a full pandemic is under way from the new strain that has been mainly mild in its symptoms so far, but which is starting to cause more severe effects as it keeps spreading.