GENEVA (BNO NEWS) — The World Health Organization concluded an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon and told member states it is declaring a global flu pandemic, BNO News has learned. It is the first such declaration since 1968.

A Swedish government official told BNO News it had received official word from the WHO that the organization is raising the pandemic alert level from 5 to 6, the highest level. The official said they feel it is their duty to make such information available to the media as soon as possible, and have scheduled a press conference at 4.30 p.m. local time (10.30 p.m. EDT) to discuss the matter. The information released to member states was not supposed to be released publicly as the WHO was planning to announce the move at 12 p.m. EDT on Thursday.