Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Friday called on the people to keep calm and collaborate with the preventive measures against the influenza A/H1N1 announced by the government.

Bachelet made this call one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alert level of A/H1N1 flu to phase six, the highest for a pandemic, and the Chilean government announced new health measures to combat A/H1N1 influenza.

"Once again we are affected by something that comes from outside our borders. First it was the economic crisis and now it is the flu, but I want to tell you that we are going to win this battle," Bachelet said in San Javier locality, 225 km south to Santiago during the inauguration of the Family Health Center Doctor Carlos Diaz Gidi.

According to Bachelet, phase six of the A/H1N1 decreed by the WHO meant that the virus was being spread in a large number of countries, but it did not mean that the disease has turned more aggressive or lethal.

The president said that it was nothing exceptional with the existence of 1,700 A/H1N1 flu cases in the country. "The important thing is to have a health system ready to have a response."

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2009)