This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions now should be undertaken with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace.

". After the first victim of the H5N1 Chan first tried to reassure Hong Kong residents with her infamous statements like "I ate chicken last night" or "I eat chicken every day don't panic everyone". In 1997 Margaret Chan was given the distinction for the Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom and was also appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun OBE JP (born 1947 in Hong Kong) is the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Chan has previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government (1994-2003) representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases (2003-2006).