The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to raise the pandemic threat level of the current swine flu outbreak within an hour.
The Geneva-based organization planned to convene its Emergency Committee, called under the rules of the International Health Regulations, on Tuesday to reevaluate the threat level but bumped it up 1 day.
According to WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl, the committee is considering raising the pandemic threat level to 4 or 5. A change in the pandemic threat level "is not guaranteed," he said, "but there is a good likelihood something will happen."...
Alphaville relays the WHO graphic and a comment:
...Now, we suspect that equity markets have not quite grasped the seriousness of this situation. For example the World Bank estimated in 2008 that a flu pandemic - ie full-on Level 6 - could cost $3,000bn and result in a near 5 per cent drop in global GDP....MORE
