Business Continuity

This post is offered to clarify the WHO declaration the spread of the A (H1N1) virus has now reached Phase 5 and how to indicate how close we might be to an official, WHO-defined pandemic.

Punchline:

1. Complete your readiness plan gap analysis this week.
2. Immediately commence filling gaps.

Currently we are at Phase 5

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community-level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.

World Health Organization Regions Nations Reporting H1N1 as of 30/4/09

African Region                            0

Eastern Mediterranean Region     1

European Region                         6

Regions of the Americas             4

South-East Asia Region              0

Western Pacific Region                1

Reported Cases Per Nation as of 30/4/09

Mexico                   98

Unities States         93

Canada                  16

New Zealand          14

Spain                     10

UK                        5

Ireland                   4

Germany                3

Israel                      2

South Korea           1

Austria                   1

France                    1

Costa Rica             1