Ukraine flu fatalities rise, government warns of "battle"

Nov 11, 2009, 9:56 GMT

   Kiev - Ukraine's deadly flu outbreak spiked on Wednesday, as senior government officials warned of a 'battle' to control the disease's spread.

   Flu and flu-related symptoms has killed 189 persons in the former Soviet republic, with 15 deaths reported on Tuesday, according to data made public on Ukraine's Ministry of Health website.

   The increased death rate followed Tuesday statements by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko that Ukraine's severe flu outbreak was showing signs of abating.

   'We have (recently) seen a doubling in infections in Ukraine,' Tymoshenko said at a Wednesday cabinet meeting televised by Channel 5. 'This is a trend, and we will have to battle with it.'

   Ukraine's flu outbreak remained concentrated in the country's western provinces on Wednesday, adjacent to the European Union, according to Ministry of Health data.

   Some 1.1 million people were infected with the flu on Wednesday, according to the ministry's estimates, down from a Tuesday high of 1.3 million.

   At least 30 people had been infected by the virulent A/H1N1 swine flu virus, according to the most recent official data.

   The actual number is reportedly higher, as Ukraine's Ministry of Health one week ago stopped making public updated counts of confirmed swine flu cases.

Medical supplies remained hard to come by, with protective masks still readily available only on the black market, and basic flu remedies if available typically sold for two to four times their normal cost.

   Traditional Soviet-era flu remedies, primarily vitamin tablets and anti-septic nose creams, were widely on sale in most major Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, according to news reports.

   Ukraine's national intelligence agency the SBU on Wednesday announced its first major medical supply-trafficking arrest since October 29 start of the flu outbreak, detaining a government worker in Kiev responsible for distributing government-financed protective masks free to retirees.

   The social worker sold 21,000 masks on the black market, before being caught 'red-handed' by SBU agents, according to an SBU statement.