Signalling the need for what it has termed enhanced "response and mitigation efforts," the UN's World Health Organization announced that it had raised the pandemic phase to 6, the highest phase.  Amid frequent caveats that the H1N1 outbreak has so far not proved lethal, with only 144 dead worldwide thus far, the WHO and CDC have emphasized that the elevation to phase 6 does not mean that H1N1 is more lethal than before. Rather it means that the outbreak is now global in nature, rather than being restricted to certain local communities as defined in phase 5.  In the U.S., additional anti-viral flu medication has been ordered and plans drawn up for H1N1-specific vaccination programs. Sizeable numbers of cases have appeared in Europe, Chile, Australia and Japan, making the rationale for a phase 6 declaration all but unavoidable.