WHO chief says too early to relax on H1N1 flu

GENEVA: It is too early to relax about the H1N1 flu strain, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Friday, calling it a crisis with possible global implications.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan cautioned that signs the outbreak was waning in its North American epicentre did not mean the worst was over, citing "great uncertainty" about whether that "partly reassuring picture" would be maintained.

"We are meeting at a time of crisis that could have global implications," she told an intergovernmental meeting on pandemic preparedness at the WHO's Geneva headquarters.

Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told the session that more than 7,500 people have been infected with the strain that is a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses. H1N1 flu has now killed 65 people in 34 countries, he said.