WHO releases a report confirming the outbreak and raise the pandemic alert.
Egypt becomes the first country in Africa to report a confirmed case of swine flu to WHO.
the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 designation indicates that a global pandemic is underway.WHO is still working to inform countries exactly what phase 6 means and to avoid a "blossoming of anxiety" once a pandemic is declared.
UK - (Guardian)
Several million cases of swine flu could develop this autumn in the UK, the chief medical officer warned today as the World Health Organisation declared the first global pandemic in more than 40 years.
Announcing the move to the highest state of alert, level 6, Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said the world should brace itself for more deaths. She warned that the virus was unpredictable, and those countries that thought they were through the first wave, including Mexico where it began, should prepare for a second.
(BBC)
The Department of Health has confirmed that 29 more patients in England have been diagnosed with swine flu.
Together with 43 new cases announced in Scotland by the Scottish Government, the UK total now stands at 664.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said 23 of the new English cases are in the west Midlands, four are in the South East and two are in the North West.
The HPA said more than 500 cases are currently under laboratory investigation in the UK.
