What are pandemic alert phases and what phase are we in?
The World Health Organization (WHO) developed an alert system to help inform the world about the seriousness of a pandemic. The alert system has six phases, with Phase 1 having the lowest risk of human cases and Phase 6 posing the greatest risk of pandemic. The world is presently in Phase 6 of the Pandemic Alert. This means that there is a new influenza virus subtype is causing disease in humans worldwide. The Pandemic Alert level is not affected by how hazardous this strain of flu is.
The World Health Organization (WHO) developed an alert system to help inform the world about the seriousness of a pandemic. The alert system has six phases, with Phase 1 having the lowest risk of human cases and Phase 6 posing the greatest risk of pandemic. The world is presently in Phase 3 of the Pandemic Alert. This means that there is a new influenza virus subtype causing disease in humans, but is not yet spreading in an efficient (easily transmittable) and sustainable manner among humans.