BBC news 2009-06-12 加文本

BBC 2009-06-12


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Welcome to the latest global news recorded at 15:00 GMT on Thursday, June 11th. I’m Frederick Dove, with a selection of highlights from across BBC World Service News today.

Coming up. The World Health Organization is reported to have decided that the outbreak of swine flu is now a global pandemic.

A Bosnian TV station has broadcast what it says is recent footage of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb war crime suspect who’s been on the run for well over a decade. Also in the podcast:

“It’s an element which probably only about ten atoms of which have ever been detected. So it’s not something that you can get in the bottle.” Scientists have discovered a new element, known as super-heavy element 112, our chemistry lesson begins later.

But first, Sweden says the World Health Organization has decided to declare the swine flu outbreak a global pandemic. An announcement by the WHO is expected shortly once all member countries have been told. It follows a sharp rise in the number of cases, to 28,000 in 74 countries resulting in 141 fatalities. The virus is also now showing sustained growth in at least two regions--North America and Australasia. The transmission of the virus meets the WHO’s technical definition of a Phase Six outbreak, the highest possible. However, that doesn’t mean a repeat of the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 is on the cards when millions died. A WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley said the implications of a pandemic declaration would vary for different countries. But no one should panic.

“We’re anxious that governments understand that when they hear the word—Phase Six pandemic—they do not overreact. Some countries have no cases at all. And all they will continue to do under advice is to continue to be, to be vigilant to watch out for cases. Other places would be heading very soon into a very serious situation. And they may have to look at things, such as no more big public meetings, no more soccer matches perhaps for a while, closing schools, that kind of thing.”

A short time ago, Oliver Conway spoke to the BBC’s image folks in Geneva where the WHO is based. So the Swedish government says the World Health Organization has decided to declare a global flu pandemic, but no official announcement yet.

"Not yet, no but in fact, the decision to raise the pandemic level to Phase Six is one that we've all been expecting here as you said in your introduction. The way swine flu is spreading meets the WHO’s somewhat rigid guidelines for what constitutes a pandemic. And I suspect, you know, the reason we’re hearing this from Sweden is what’s actually happening at the moment is, the WHO’s Emergency Committee has met. It’s decided what’s its announcement will be. Protocol has it that all 193 member states of the WHO have to be informed, their Health Ministers have to be informed. So that’s what’s going on. After that, we in the media, we will be informed, but obviously, the Swedish Health Minister has his news and has let us know about it."

And once all those countries have been told what sort of measures will they have to take now that the WHO is looking at the Phase Six outbreak.

"Well, this is a very interesting point because they will not be global uniform measures. What the WHO wants countries to do is look very carefully at how swine flu is operating in their own countries, and you know, a case like the United States, for example, where there are now thousands of cases. The WHO believes there the containment is pretty pointless. And there needs to be instead of very careful medical management, cases need to be identified and treated accordingly. But in countries where they perhaps, well here in Switzerland, we think we have 19 cases. Here, one would expect if a case of swine flu was found in a school, then that school would perhaps be closed at least temporarily. But where it’s really spreading rapidly, that’s a different matter."

Now it’s spreading fast but there haven’t been huge numbers of deaths yet, is the virus progressing as expected?