Getting your player ready...
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Friday that it will change the rules for declaring a swine-flu pandemic, a virus the agency’s chief called “sneaky” because of its ability to spread quickly and potentially mutate into a deadlier form.
Under political pressure from many of its 193 members to consider factors other than just the spread of the disease before announcing a global epidemic, WHO’s flu chief said “course corrections” were being made.
“What we will be looking for is events which signify a really substantial increase in risk of harm to people,” Keiji Fukuda told reporters in Geneva.
Many countries fear a pandemic declaration would trigger mass panic and be economically and politically damaging.
