UK health chiefs expected ‘imminent’ pandemic in 1997

Declassified documents show officials drew up plan to deal with predicted arrival of flu from far east

Health chiefs believed a pandemic was imminent" in 1997 and drew up a contingency plan that included a mass vaccination programme and closing borders.

Officials expected a flu pandemic to emerge from the far east and established a UK-wide plan to deal with the health crisis, newly declassified documents have revealed.