# 3950
From Brest Online, a couple of reports on the H1N1 swine flu activity in that region. These links are not permanent, as these stories appear on the front page of the site.
Both are dated Nov. 4th.
These reports paint a picture of a region heavily impacted by influenza, and of overburdened hospitals. These quarantines are designed to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases.
Quarantine imposed at schools, hospitals in Vitsyebsk region’s cities
A quarantine has been imposed at schools and hospitals in major cities of the Vitsyebsk region, Vitsyebsk, Orsha, Polatsk and Navapolatsk, to prevent the spread of acute respiratory diseases.
Against the background of high swine flu fears in Minsk, there are few passers-by in Vitsyebsk who wear face masks. Only pharmacy and store assistants use the masks.
Most pharmacies in the city have sold out not only antiviral drugs but also ascorbic acid. Pharmacists promise that shelves would soon be restocked.
Iryna Druzhynina, deputy director general of the Vitsyebsk branch of the state-owned Farmatsyya drug company that runs a network of pharmacies, said that the sale of face masks had grown tenfold, but the scramble was “artificial.”
She stressed that people could make masks themselves, adding that the working hours of state-run pharmacies in Vitsyebsk had been extended until 11 p.m. //BelaPAN
Minsk's Hospital No. 3 said to be packed with patients with acute respiratory disease, pneumonia
Minsk's Hospital No. 3 is overcrowded with patients with acute respiratory disease and pneumonia, prominent human rights defender Ales Byalyatski, who is being treated in the hospital for pneumonia, told BelaPAN.
According to Mr. Byalyatski, he overheard doctors say that there were three times more such patients than usual.
"The hospital is like in wartime," he said. "We have six patients in each of the nine wards. Seventeen more people are lying in beds in the corridor, that is, there is no room for them in the wards. Men and women, old and young people are lying in the corridor together. The gastroenterology unit is now occupied by flu patients."
Mr. Byalyatski himself stayed two days in the corridor until a bed in a ward became vacant.
Nevertheless, there is no shortage of medications, he said.
Mr. Byalyatski is vice president of the International Human Rights Federation.
