# 3217
This update from the AP indicates that the WHO (for reasons that are probably more complex than they are willing to state) has decided not to raise the pandemic alert level yet.
WHO chief does not raise swine flu alert level, doesn't know how long "grace period" will last
By Associated Press
10:10 AM CDT, May 18, 2009
GENEVA (AP) — The chief of the World Health Organization says she is not raising the world swine flu alert level just yet.
Several countries including Britain, Japan and China had urged the U.N. health agency to change how it decides to raise the alert level.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan says the swine flu epidemic is in "a grace period" with the WHO alert remaining at phase 5 out of a possible six for the last month. She told the WHO annual assembly on Monday that no one can say how long this period will last.
Chan says the danger now is that the swine flu virus could mix with other flu strains and become more dangerous.
