UK urges more flexibility in criteria for flu pandemic alerts

Greater flexibility and additional information are needed when deciding whether to declare a flu pandemic, a delegation of countries have told the World Health Organization.

The United Kingdom proposed at this week’s World Health Assembly in Geneva that a phase 6 alert—the top level—should reflect the severity of a new virus and not just its geographical spread.

Speaking at the assembly the health secretary, Alan Johnson, said that WHO should not just be driven by a purely “mechanistic approach” but should also be able to use emerging knowledge about the severity of the disease and other considerations before taking the decision to move a flu pandemic alert to phase 6.

Mr Johnson told WHO’s general secretary, Margaret Chan: “It is my belief we need to give you and your team more flexibility as to whether we move to phase 6.”

Dr …