随着感染H1N1流感病例继续蔓延，世界卫生组织宣布40多年来的首次全球范围流感大流行。世卫总干事陈冯富珍星期四在日内瓦举行一次专家会议后宣布，世卫组织将甲型H1N1流感大流行警戒级别从第5级提高到最高级6级。
有关官员强调，宣布大流行并不意味着甲型H1N1流感变得更加严重，而是在世界上一些不同的地方出现越来越多的感染病例。
陈冯富珍说，病毒至少在流行初期很可能仍然是温和的，但她警告说，病毒可能会发生变异。她说，有关官员并不预期严重或致命感染病例数量会急剧增加，这类病例在世界范围还是相对较少的。
陈冯富珍说，目前在世界74个国家共报告有近3万例甲型H1N1流感病例。
The World Health Organization has declared the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, as infections of the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to spread. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan announced Thursday that the U.N. agency is raising the pandemic alert level from Phase 5 to the maximum Phase 6 following a meeting of experts in Geneva.
Officials note that declaring a pandemic does not mean the disease has become more severe, but that there is an increasing number of infections in different geographical locations.
Chan said the virus is likely to remain moderate at least in the early days of the pandemic, though she warned that the virus could change. She said officials do not expect a jump in the number of severe or fatal infections, which have been relatively small worldwide.
Chan said nearly 30,000 cases have been reported in 74 countries.