While the World Health Organisation is keeping the flu pandemic alert at 5, the second highest level, future changes will reflect the flu’s severity as well as how widespread an outbreak is.

The move follows widespread criticism that the UN agency may have created undue panic about the virus, which has killed only 125 people around the world, 103 of them in Mexico.

Flu experts held hour-long talks and issued a statement saying "There was a broad consensus on the importance of including information on severity in future announcements."