The World Health Organisation has called an emergency meeting on swine flu, amid growing speculation that officials will declare that the virus has become the first global flu pandemic in 40 years.
The Geneva meeting was announced after a dramatic rise in Australian cases. The number of cases in the country has risen to 1,200, a four-fold increase in a week. The virus has now spread to 74 countries in total. There are currently 750 confirmed cases in the UK. A further 607 cases are being investigated.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan has been discussing the disease with health officials in eight countries, as she seeks to establish how far the virus has spread.
On Tuesday she said it was likely that swine flu had reached pandemic level but added: “Once I get indisputable evidence, I will make the announcement.”
Defining the virus as a pandemic does not mean that it has increased in severity but it does mean that the number of worldwide cases is likely to rise considerably. The WHO has confirmed 141 deaths from 27,737 cases.
The head of the WHO's global influenza programme, Keiji Fukuda, said: “We are getting close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation.”
The emergency committee is due to meet at 11:00 GMT with an announcement expected shortly afterwards.
