On Aug. 10, 2010, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan announced that the H1N1 influenza virus had moved into the post-pandemic period. However, localized outbreaks of various magnitudes were likely to continue.

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus reached every WHO region and affected all but a handful of the world’s countries. Officially, the virus aused approximately 18,500 deaths. That figure, however, was based only on laboratory-confirmed cases.