Mexico City  - The bells of Mexico City's cathedral rang in prayer, and the figure of Our Father Jesus of Health was taken out onto the streets of the city's historic centre Sunday for the first time in 150 years to ask God for protection.

As in the times of smallpox, Roman Catholics joined in prayer against the ongoing flu epidemic, including cases of swine flu, that has left 149 people dead in the country in less than a month.

Geneva - The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its pandemic alert level for influenza one step to phase 4 in light of the developments of the swine flu outbreak, an official said Tuesday in Geneva. Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, made the decision following an extradited meeting of the organization's emergency committee but did not recommend restrictions on travel.

The WHO's Keiji Fukuda said the heightened alert was a "sign of a step towards pandemic influenza but a stage that says we are not there yet."

Brasilia - The Brazilian government complained Monday that Mexican authorities took too long to inform other countries of its swine flu outbreak. Brazil has so far not reported any cases of swine flu, the Health Ministry said.

"In such cases as these there cannot be such a delay in notification. Brazil has a habit of not hiding serious public health cases," said Agenor Alvares, general director of the public Agency for Health Surveillance (Anvisa).

Washington - The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was to issue an advisory against non-essential travel to Mexico - the epicentre of the global swine flu outbreak - acting director Richard Besser said Monday. "This is out of an abundance of caution," he said, adding that the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC had confirmed 26 deaths in Mexico were a result of swine flu. "This is a small fraction of what they are seeing," Besser warned.

New York - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that 28 cases of swine flu have been confirmed and another 17 cases were suspected in New York City, where more than 100 students at one school had become sick and were being tested. Bloomberg said at a news conference that it appeared the swine flu cases have been mild so far and precautions were needed to make sure that the health situation in New York is safe while authorities struggle to contain the flu.

New York - New York City authorities considered Monday to close schools to prevent the swine flu from striking children after eight students at a Queens high school were confirmed sick of disease, reports said. The US government has declared a national public health emergency after tests confirmed 40 people in the United States, including the eight students in New York, have mild cases of the flu.

The Saint Francis high school in Fresh Meadows, Queens, where the eight students were found sick, was closed Monday and Tuesday to allow cleaning crews to sanitize the school.