Ukraine is facing a swine flu pandemic and an epidemic of seasonal flu and acute respiratory illnesses, First Deputy Health Minister Vasyl Lazoryshynets has said.
"We currently have a pandemic of the A/H1N1 flu, as we are on the territory where it exists. We also have an epidemic of acute respiratory illnesses, as well as seasonal and pandemic flu," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Nov. 19.
Lazoryshynets said that Ukraine had tested 1,168 samples and confirmed 265 cases of Type A flu, including 225 cases of the A/H1N1 flu.
He said that samples had been taken from all of those who had died of flu. Of 238 samples, Type A flu was confirmed in 21 people, including the A/H1N1 flu confirmed in 17 people, he said.
Lazoryshynets said that over 1.502 million people had contracted flu and acute respiratory infections since the start of the epidemic in Ukraine, including 44,000 over the last 24 hours.
Thirteen people have died of flu over the last 24 hours.
