Canada unfazed by pandemic declaration

OTTAWA, June 12 (UPI) -- Medical and political officials in Canada say little will change in the country despite the World Health Organization's declaration of an H1N1 flu pandemic.

In response to Thursday's upgrade to the WHO's top level of six of the outbreak of the virus originally called swine flu, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in Ottawa it was "primarily a technical decision that is based on how the virus has spread and does not reflect how severe it is," Sun Media reported.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said there have been 2,978 cases in the country, four of which have been fatal since the virus first appeared in Mexico in April.

Canada's chief medical officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, said in the majority of cases in the country the virus "continues to behave like a seasonal flu," the report said.

Meanwhile, the province of Ontario's former chief medical officer, Dr. Richard Schabas, criticized the pandemic designation.

"I think it's an irresponsible and indefensible decision on their part," he told the news agency. "A pandemic is supposed to be a virus that causes attack rates of 25 percent to 35 percent of the population. It's supposed to cause high levels of pneumonia and serious infection, it's supposed to cause tens of thousands of deaths in individual countries worldwide. That just isn't happening."

Globally, there have been about 28,000 confirmed cases of H1N1 reported in 74 countries, with 141 deaths, the report said.