Pandemic Alert Level

  Found this.......

The World Health Organisation uses a six stage phase for alerting the general public to an outbreak

Phase 1 - viruses that may be circulating among animals have no impact on humans.

Phase 2 - an influenza virus in animals is known to cause infection in humans, and could become a pandemic threat.

Phase 3 - the animal or human influenza virus causes some small outbreaks among close populations but not through human to human contact. There may be some human to human contact among two people who work closely together, but the virus is not transmitted through general contact.

Phase 4 - Human to human transmission of a virus is confirmed and causes community level outbreaks. Any country that has any of these outbreaks must consult with the WHO immediately to discover what is the best course of action to deal with the virus outbreak. This stage does not mean a pandemic is imminent, but it is a possibility.

Phase 5 - The virus is spread by human to human contact and has now spread across two countries or more in one of the WHO regions (continents). When a stage 5 is declared, it means that a pandemic is most likely to happen and that countries should start preparing for such an event.

Phase 6 - a worldwide pandemic. There has been a community outbreak in a country in another WHO region, and a global pandemic is underway.

The WHO is currently phase 3.  We now refer to ours as the defcon alert system, lol. We're a little ahead of the WHO, but if we ever hit 5, that's you're warning to get your lists out, and that a pandemic is most likely imminent   One possible qualifier is that if it pops up outside of Asia, or in simultaneous outbreaks.  

Hello ep123, and yes we have, twice.  Once in April 2009 when the swine flu first emerged, and of course we ultimately went to phase 6, and briefly when h3n2v emerged.  Other than those 2 occasions, never before.  We have never gone to phase 5 other than the swine flu pandemic.