During the 7th meeting held by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on May 19, 2009, the “Guidelines for uncompensated use of medical resources and personal protective equipment during the establishment of the Central Epidemic Command Center” were passed.During the establishment of CECC, uncompensated use of personal protective equipment required for all emergency operations conducted to contain and control outbreaks will be distributed by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) through the Fire Department.On the other hand, use of personal protective equipment required for operations conducted to contain and control outbreaks in the community will be distributed by the local health bureau.

On May 18, 2009, the World Health Assembly discussed the declaration of a pandemic and the concerning criteria to raise the pandemic level to phase 6.After the meeting, the World Health Organization Director-General, Margaret Chan, said the global pandemic alert level remains at phase 5 and the decision to declare phase 6, a full-scale pandemic, will depend on further comments by all WHO member states and the development of the ongoing outbreaks in the United Kingdom, Spain and Japan. Further, concerns about the interaction of H1N1 virus with other viruses currently circulating in human were also expressed at the meeting.

Despite the increase in the number of confirmed influenza A (H1N1) cases in Japan, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific indicated that the occurrence of a persistent community spread has yet to be confirmed in Japan. In addition, the commanding officer of CECC, Minister of Health Yeh, and three experts in Geneva reached a mutual understanding concerning the current epidemic situation in Japan. The current epidemic situation in Japan remains at phase 3 of the pandemic alert level as described by the Taiwanese government and the outbreaks in Japan will continue to be closely monitored.