Czechs chair EU health ministers meeting over flu threat

In related news, Czech health minister Daniela Filipiová chaired a special meeting of EU health ministers to discuss the swine flu threat on Thursday. The Luxembourg meeting was due to take stock of the threat so far, steps taken by individual countries and what joint measures should be adopted at an EU level. One of its main conclusions was not to back a French call for a ban on flights to Mexico. The Czech presidency of the EU has said it is convinced that coordinated EU steps against swine flu are required. So far, the deadly virus has spread to several EU states, including Czech neighbours Austria and Germany. The World Health Organisation late Wednesday raised its assessment of the risk of a pandemic from four to five, the penultimate level.