WHO chief: A/H1N1 pandemic still going on

GENEVA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 pandemic is still continuing and it's too early to declare a victory over the disease, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan said Tuesday.

"It is too soon to say that we have passed the peak of the H1N1flu pandemic on a worldwide scale... Winter is still long," Chan told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps in an interview.

Although the pandemic has reached its peak in some nations in the northern hemisphere, such as the United States and Canada, that is not the case with all countries, she said.

"I think we must remain prudent and observe the evolution of the pandemic in the course of the next six to 12 months before crying victory," she added.

At least 11,516 people worldwide have been killed by the A/H1N1influenza since the disease first emerged in April, the WHO said last week.

The reported number of fatal cases probably has been underestimated because many deaths were never tested or recognized as influenza related, the WHO said.

Source : www.chinaview.cn