Ukraine declares flu epidemic as death toll reaches 83
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E-mail Xinhua, January 27, 2016
Ukraine officially declared a flu epidemic in the country on Tuesday as the outbreak of the deadly virus has claimed the lives of 83 people.
"Ukraine is now experiencing a flu epidemic," Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili told reporters, noting that the epidemic threshold was surpassed in 18 out of the country's 24 regions.
Kvitashvili said that between early October 2015 and the end of January this year, more than 2.6 million cases of flu have been reported across Ukraine, about 6 percent of the country's population.
Later in the day, Kiev city authorities said that a total of 19 people were killed by influenza in the Ukrainian capital since the start of the cold season and that 12 of them died over the past week.
Earlier, the Health Ministry said that the vast majority of the reported influenza cases in the country were caused by the H1N1 strain, the so-called swine flu.
To prevent the spread of the flu, most schools and kindergartens have been closed across the East European country since Jan. 16 and people were asked to wear protective masks in public places.
On the eve of the winter season, only 120,000 people in Ukraine were given a flu shot, data showed.
A major outbreak of the H1N1 virus sparked a global pandemic alert issued by the World Health Organization in June 2009. The strain, which has been lethal mainly to those with complicating circumstances, is now considered a seasonal flu.
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