BEIJING, Dec. 7 -- The United States government warned on Monday that it was essential to start emergency planning in good time to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic in the country.

    At a meeting of top level state and local officials, participants discussed the implications of the disease arriving in the US.

    Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said emergency planning during the recent hurricane season had been insufficient.
    
    "I would say a critical, if not the critical lesson, of all the hurricanes is: the earlier you begin to plan, the better off you are", Chertoff said.

    Delegates from 50 states along with representatives of territories and tribal governments were in Washington on Monday to hear Health and Human Secretary Mike Leavitt's plan to deal with an outbreak.

    Using a computer model, Leavitt described the possible spread of avian flu in the US, saying that six weeks after the first known outbreak of the disease, more than 700-thousand could become affected by the virus.

    "While we think of pandemics in the context of continents and centuries, the hard reality is they play out in hometowns, countless hometowns", he said. 

    At least 68 people have died from the H5N1 bird flu virus since it emerged in Asia in 2003.

    (Source: CRIENGLISH.com)