Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine held packs of Tamiflu after a plane carrying 300,000 doses landed in Kiev.
(Alexander Prokopenko/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Ukraine shuts schools to fight swine flu
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine held packs of Tamiflu after a plane carrying 300,000 doses landed in Kiev.
(Alexander Prokopenko/ AFP/ Getty Images)
KIEV - Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine yesterday closed the nation’s schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that some nightclubs, cinemas, and food markets also shut down.
The World Health Organization said yesterday there was no evidence that Ukraine had a bad outbreak of swine flu, but at the government’s request it had sent a health team there to help the country cope.
“But this is not an indication that the situation is severe,’’ said WHO spokeswoman Liuba Negru. “The information we have gotten [from the government], we have to double-check it and make sure it is real, evidence-based information.’’
Ukraine’s Health Ministry said yesterday that 70 people in the nation of 40 million have died of flu, but did not say how many of those deaths were related to swine flu. Worldwide, outbreaks of regular seasonal flu claim 50,000 lives each year.
All schools were ordered closed for a week across Ukraine, even in the capital, Kiev, where there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu.
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