Deputy WHO Chief: "Containment Is Not An Option"

The WHO yesterday raised it's pandemic alert level to Phase 4:

Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic.

The deputy chief of the WHO, Dr Keiji Fukuda, said that the virus was so widespread that "containment is not an option" and that governments should concentrate on mitigating it's effects. According to the WHO, all it will take to progress to phase 6, the most serious, is:

• human to human transmission confirmed in another country other than Mexico.
• the virus to spread to another country in a different region.

Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent

Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way.

See also: Are We About To See The Next Flu Pandemic

UPDATE: There may be human-to-human, or community transmission in the USA. If this is confirmed we can expect Phase 5 shortly.