While confirmed cases of swine flu increased only slightly on Monday, the World Health Organization voted to raise its global pandemic flu alert level, but at the same time it recommended that borders not be closed nor travel bans imposed.
The W.H.O.'s emergency committee, after meeting until 10:30 p.m. in Geneva, also recommended abandoning efforts to contain the flu's spread.
"Because the virus is already quite widespread in different locations, containment is not a feasible option," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the organization's deputy director general.
The W.H.O. also recommended that vaccine makers keep making the seasonal flu vaccine instead of switching over to a new one that matches the swine flu strain, but it urged them to start the process of picking a pandemic strain, weakening it and making large batches of it, which could take six months.
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Avoid Mexico, Travelers Are Told, as Swine Flu Toll Mounts
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W.H.O. Issues Higher Alert on Swine Flu, With Advice
The New York Times, April 27, 2009
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