WHO: Swine flu outbreak 'serious'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the outbreak of a multi-strain swine flu, which has already killed about 60 people in Mexico and spread to the US, has "pandemic potential".Margaret Chan, the WHO chief, on Saturday described the outbreak as "serious" and called on countries to "increase vigilance" following the discovery of related strains on both sides of the Mexico-US border.At least 62 people in Mexico have died from pneumonia after contracting the flu virus.Chan said how the situation would evolve was "unpredictable".An emergency committee of the WHO met in Geneva on Saturday to oversee the agency's handling of the outbreak.Jose Angel Cordova, the health minister of Mexico, said on Friday that the rate of deaths appeared to be slowing and there were no plans to seal the country's borders, although schools, libraries, museums and theatres were closed in a bid to contain the disease.The mayor of Mexico City has cancelled all public events for 10 days to try to contain the outbreak.Two of Mexico's main football games, one of them in the capital's giant Aztec Stadium, will be played without spectators on Sunday to avoid large crowds.In all, 1,004 suspected cases have been reported nationwide.