# 3927
Today a report (hat tip Dutchy at FluTrackers) from Itar-Tass news agency outlining the impact of the flu epidemic in the Ukraine. The situation, according to a decree by President Viktor Yushchenko, `has assumed a threatening and unpredictable nature and is a threat to national security’.
Sadly, 4 doctors are now said to have died from this flu in Ukraine’s Ternopol and Lvov region.
FluTrackers continues to post updates on this emerging story, with newshounds working practically around the clock. You’ll find this is the most active thread but check the Latest Posts button for new threads.
You’ll find earlier coverage of this Ukrainian situation in these blogs.
WHO Statement On The Ukraine Flu Outbreak
Ukraine: A Rush To Buy Flu Supplies
WHO Dispatching Team To Ukraine
Ukraine Update: H1N1 Quarantine
Epidemic situation in Ukraine threatens national security, 53 people die of cold and flu
01.11.2009, 20.48
KIEV, November 1 (Itar-Tass) - The epidemic situation in Ukraine “has assumed a threatening and unpredictable nature and is a threat to national security”, says a decree of October 31 by President Viktor Yushchenko, published on Sunday. The decree enacts a decision of the National Security and Defence Council on measures to fight the new flu (A/N1N1).
In the opinion of the Security Council, “the Ministry of Health and local bodies of executive power showed insufficient readiness to ensure treatment of patients”.
In this connection, the government was instructed to create reserves of medical equipment and anti-virus preparations, to strengthen anti-epidemic regime in places frequented by people, to restrict mass events and to involve the Defence Ministry and the Ministry for Emergencies to render medical aid to population.
The Health Ministry is to inform the Security Council secretary of the situation daily. The Defence Ministry was instructed to organise a check-up of population in the countryside with mobile teams from hospitals.
Incidentally, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine to fight the flu epidemic, reported the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Sunday.
Fifty-three people, including a child and two pregnant women, have died of cold and flu in Ukraine, the Health Ministry said.
In all, the country’s cold and flu rate amounts to 185,000, including 9,400 cases of flu. The number of A/H1N1 flu cases is unknown.
The situation is the worst in the Lvov region, where about 70,000 people have cold and flu. The cold and flu rate is also high in the Ternopol, Ivano-Frankovsk and Chernovtsy regions.
Four doctors died of flu in Ukraine’s Ternopol and Lvov regions, Health Minister Vasily Knyazevich said at the Sunday meeting of the operative headquarters for the prevention and treatment of A/H1N1 flu.
Ukraine enacted border crossing rules because of the A/H1N1 flu outbreak, Timoshenko said.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has asked the world to help handle the flu epidemic.
The president sent letters to the presidents of Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia and the United States, the NATO secretary general and the European Commission president.
