Ukraine's President calls for help to fight swine flu epidemic

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has asked the international community to help his country to fight with swine flu epidemic. ''The current threat to the national security of Ukraine, which we cannot offset by just our own efforts, requires me to turn to our closest friends and strategic partners for emergency assistance,'' Yushchenko said yesterday.

Ukrainian Health Ministry announced yesterday 53 people have already died of the swine flu. It said 184,919 people were sick with flu or colds, with 7,383 requiring hospitalization, 123 in serious condition.

Letters were sent yesterday to the leaders of Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia and the United States, as well as to the European Commission president and NATO secretary general.

''In the letters, Viktor Yushchenko also stipulates a list of the medicines and medical equipment that are necessary first of all for our nation to effectively counter the spread of swine flu epidemic,'' the Ministry said.

Ukraine has already received offers of assistance from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Poland, including for the delivery of vaccines and medical masks.

The government has announced quarantine in nine areas in western Ukraine, and banned public events across the country and closed schools. A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) is due in the country today.

Russia has offered Kiev assistance in curbing the spread of swine flu, RIA Novosti news agency reported quoting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Meanwhile, the number of those infected with the A/H1N1 virus has reached almost 2,500, Russia's chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko told Itar-Tass news agency ''At present, 2,428 H1N1 flu cases have been registered in Russia,'' he said adding that five people died of the pandemic flu. Hospitals in Moscow are closed for visitors due to the seasonal flu epidemic, and schoolchildren in the Moscow Region have gone on holiday earlier this autumn as schools are closed under quarantine. All the Moscow hospitals are barred until a special order. The measure is imposed because of the increasing number of flu and acute respiratory viral infection cases, the capital's health department told Itar-Tass. More than 1,500 school classes are closed in Moscow under seven-day quarantine.

Meanwhile, the number of people infected with A/H1N1 virus in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus has risen to 59, the Belarus Health Ministry said yesterday.

-- (UNI) -- 02DF1.xml

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