In a separate briefing with reporters Thursday, U.S. officials said all states are now required to report Zika cases. As a result, they expect to see a sharp increase in cases involving a traveler infected while abroad who becomes symptomatic after returning home. But local outbreaks are unlikely here, officials said.
Global health authorities have already been criticized for not moving quickly enough to call an emergency meeting on Zika. Some public health experts accused the WHO of failing to learn lessons from the Ebola epidemic of 2014, when the organization delayed sounding the alarm for months.
Three to four million people could be infected with Zika virus in the Americas this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts.
Most will not develop symptoms, but the virus, spread by mosquitoes, has been linked to brain defects in babies.Meanwhile, the US says it hopes to begin human vaccine trials by the end of 2016.
The head of the International Olympic Committee says steps are being taken to protect the Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Thomas Bach said the IOC would issue advice this week on how to keep athletes and visitors safe in Brazil, the worst affected country.
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said Zika had gone "from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions".
She has set up a Zika "emergency team" after the "explosive" spread of the virus.
It will meet on Monday to decide whether Zika should be treated as a global emergency.
The last time an international emergency was declared was for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has killed more than 11,000 people.
Zika: What you need to know
Zika was first detected in Uganda in 1947, but has never caused an outbreak on this scale.
Brazil reported the first cases of Zika in South America in May 2015.
Most cases result in no symptoms and it is hard to test for, but WHO officials said between 500,000 and 1.5 million people had been infected in the country.
The virus has since spread to more than 20 countries in the region.
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