Ukraine closes schools amid flu outbreak

Schools in Ukraine have been closed for three weeks, travel restricted and public events stepped down as the country’s swine flu death toll continues to climb. Sixty-seven people have died from breathing problems in the past week. The Eastern European country’s Health Ministry is not sure how many of these deaths were caused by swine flu, but the news has caused widespread panic across the country, and people have started wearing surgical masks in the street. More than 255,000 Ukrainians had registered with public health authorities as suffering from flu, and 83,000 of these are children, vice Health Minister Vasyl Lazorishinets told a press briefing. Some 15,000 of the people infected are in hospital, and 170 were listed on Sunday evening as in critical condition, Lazorishinets said.

As a precaution, schools and universities across the country will be closed, and officials urged people in western Ukraine to travel only when necessary and stay away from public places. "By closing schools and cancelling mass gatherings in the early stages of an event ... you can slow down the transmission of the virus," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. "So far there is only one confirmed death (from H1N1 in Ukraine), but there is a big event going on there," he told Associated press news service. The government has urged cafes, cinemas and theatres in the western city of Lviv, to close indefinitely. Most people infected live in the west of Ukraine bordering on its European neighbours, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Today (Tuesday), Russia and Slovakia tightened their borders with the country as the World Health Organization started to investigate the outbreak.

The Ukrainian health minister Vasyl Knyazevych has asked the media only to what medical experts say after a series of misleading reports have fuelled anxiety. She said on national television that Ukraine had the same problems as the rest of the world and called on fellow politicians to give people 'a week of silence,' and said there was no need for panic. President Viktor Yushchenko has also appealed for international help and Poland has been the first country to send aid. Shortages in flu remedies, surgical masks and even Vitamin C tablets have been reported across Ukraine, despite the foreign help, as panic buying emptied chemist shelves. Black market prices of some flu remedies, particularly Tamiflu, had rocketed to as much as 10 times normal retail value.The government has faced growing criticism of its handling of the outbreak.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children