The H1N1 virus is still a global threat, with the World Health Organization planning to keep the alert at its second-highest level.

In Canada, flu activity for this time of year is certainly abnormal, noted Dr. Allison McGeer at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

"On a relative scale there's not a lot of it," she says of swine flu transmission in Toronto.

"But it's very clearly starting to increase. I suppose it could shut itself off at any given time. But the last couple of days look like we're going to see a (flu) season," McGeer, an influenza expert, added.

However, the chief of the WHO says she has no plans to increase the warning just yet. Dr. Margaret Chan explained that the disease was in a grace period, but there was no telling how long that period will last. The alert remains at Phase Five.

On Monday, the Canadian government lifted the travel advisory to Mexico. The Canada Border Services Agency will continue to visually check travellers for signs of illness, but quarantine officers will no longer be meeting every flight from the country.

According to the WHO, the biggest danger is whether the virus, also known as swine flu, could mix with other flu strains.

The WHO is holding its annual assembly in Geneva, and one of the topics was the H1N1 virus. Britain, Japan and China have requested that the WHO change the way it decides to declare a pandemic.

Right now, they say the United Nations agency only looks at how fast a disease is spreading.

It must also look at how deadly the virus is, the countries argue. 

With files from the Canadian Press.