The Department of Health says: "The WHO alert levels reflect the global view, and any action taken in the UK will be based on the situation here.
"We are monitoring the situation constantly and if anything changes we will react accordingly."
Professor Paul Hunter, a health protection expert at the University of East Anglia, says if anything the political consequences of the first pandemic in more than 40 years will be greater than any operational shift.
"There will be debates in Parliament, people will get worried and we will have to see how businesses and politicians react.
"There is a risk that there will be panic and calls for travel restrictions and the like.
"So far the government has got the reaction right in my view.
"And while it is worrying we are still seeing cases despite it being summer when flu generally does not spread, we can still be reassured that it is a relatively mild disease."
Indeed, that in many ways is the key.
The word pandemic sounds serious, but it just refers to its geographical spread not how virulent it is.
While the disease has spread to more than 70 countries, infecting nearly 30,000 people in the process, the death toll at 140 has been relatively small.
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