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GENEVA: The World Health Organisation said on Thursday there was no reason to raise a pandemic flu alert to the highest level as the epidemic remained steady.
But WHO acting Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda added a note of caution about developments in the southern hemisphere, which is entering into the flu-prone winter season.
The WHO had raised the global pandemic alert level from phase four to five on Wednesday, signalling that a pandemic was "imminent".
"Today that assessment holds steady and we do not have any evidence that we should move to phase six today or that any such move is imminent right now," said WHO acting Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda.
Phase six would signal that the world is in a pandemic.
However, Fukuda pointed out that the swine flu virus, which on Thursday was renamed "influenza A (H1N1)" by the WHO, had been behaving like a typical influenza virus.
As such, it could have a bigger impact on countries that are heading into winter.
Mexico, which is at the heart of the outbreak, the United States and other northern hemisphere countries where cases have been reported mainly in travellers, are currently in springtime and the traditional flu season is on the wane.
"It's possible we will see outbreaks of the H1N1 virus occurring more recently in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere," Fukuda said in a global telephone news conference.
"This is something we have to be on the watch out very carefully for."
The number of confirmed and probable cases of the H1N1 flu in New Zealand rose to 16 on Thursday, health officials said.
South Africa, another country in the southern hemisphere, on Wednesday flagged two suspected cases of swine flu, both of them travellers returning from Mexico.
Overall, the total number of confirmed cases reached 257 in 11 countries, most of them in Mexico and the United States, according to fresh data from the WHO.
Fukuda reported a multiplication of confirmed cases in Mexico to 97, while the number of confirmed deaths stayed steady at seven.
But while the caseload "continued" in Mexico, the situation was largely stable, he added.
"The jump in numbers being reported by Mexico probably represents a lot of work being down right now to go through the backlog of specimens collected from people with different symptoms," Fukuda said.
"We have also seen in other countries cases holding steady, for example the United States," Fukuda said in a global telephone news conference.
"There is nothing which suggests epidemiologically today that we should be moving towards phase six," he added.
A day after the decision of the WHO to upgrade the pandemic alert level to five, signalling an "imminent" pandemic, the United Nations issued an internal note to advise staff to postpone non-essential travel to "countries at risk" of swine flu.
The UN also called on staff, including diplomats, to avoid handshakes and hugs.
"Non-essential travel to countries at risk should be delayed whenever feasible," said the United Nations in the note.
Staff on official travel are required to obtain medical clearance before departure, said the note.
The UN reminded staff to "stay at home if unwell with fever, sore throat or flu-like symptoms".
In addition, it listed among basic hygiene practises that should be observed the wearing of a surgical mask "if you sneeze or cough", avoiding close physical contact through handshakes and hugs and avoiding contact with those who are ill. - AFP/de
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