The World Health Organization raised the pandemic(流行病) flu alert(警戒) to six, the highest level, which means that the H1N1 swine flu is spreading world-wide.
The WHO will ask all countries, including the countries that haven’t yet reported any cases, to make plans to control this disease.
“It was reported that about 35,000 people infected with the H1N1 virus in 74 counties,” Margaret Chan, an officer of the WHO, said on Thursday. “Further spread of the disease is possible,” Ms Chan said. So far, WHO doesn’t expect a sudden jump in the number of serious or dead cases reported.
In Australia, the number of people who got the flu became more than three times as many as before in the past week, reaching 1,263 on Thursday, when three new ones were reported in this country. It recorded its first case of the disease on May 9. “Australia tells us not because of the number of cases, but because of the strong facts of community transmission(群体性传播),” said the spokesman for the World Health Organization. He said the WHO is also watching on similar evidence in the UK, Spain, Japan and Chile.
In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered the nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools to close for two weeks after a dozen students at one school tested positive for swine flu. Elsewhere in Asia, health officials in Thailand found 30 new H1N1 cases, raising the total there to 46.
54. How many levels does WHO use to warn people against the pandemic flu?
A. Five. B. Six. C. Seven. D. Eight.
55. WHO raised the pandemic flu alert to the highest level because .
A. all countries in the world have reported dead cases
B. there is a sudden jump in the number of cases reported
C. there is no medicine to cure this flu
D. it is spreading in the world
56. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The number of people who got the flu has dropped slightly in the past week in Australia.
B. The WHO ask the countries that have reported cases to make plans to control the disease.
C. The number of people who got the flu reached more than 1,000 in Australia on Thursday.
D. The Hong Kong government ordered all schools to close for two weeks on Thursday.
57. This passage mainly tells us something about .
A. WHO’s raising the pandemic flu alert
B. how to prevent this kind of flu
C. people who got the pandemic flu
D. the ways to avoid the serious pandemic flu