WHO Officially Declares Swine Flu Pandemic Over

World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan announced Tuesday the end of the swine flu pandemic, more than a year after it was declared.

"The world is no longer in phase six of the pandemic alert. We are now moving into the post-pandemic period," Chan said in a telephone news conference.

"The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course," she added.

The top phase of the WHO's six tier pandemic alert scale corresponds to a pandemic, or global spread of a disease.

The step followed advice given earlier Tuesday by the WHO's advisory emergency committee of 15 external scientists headed by Australian infectious diseases expert John Mackenzie.

Source: AFP