FULL QUARANTINE RESTRICTIONS IN SOME REGIONS OF UKRAINE

Ukrainian officials announced of 30 October 2009 that full quarantine measures have been implemented in the country’s nine westernmost regions, including the Lviv, Ivano-Frankovsk and Ternopil regions, in response to information that an epidemic of the A/H1N1 swine flu virus has broken out in that area of the country. The measures will include restrictions that limit “unnecessary” movement between regions for the next three weeks; details regarding how officials will determine the urgency of travel have not been released. Nationwide, schools will be closed and public events, including the showing of films at cinema's, will be banned. Since mid-October, 30 flu-related deaths have been reported in western Ukraine, although only one has been confirmed as the A/H1N1 strain. More than 950 people have been hospitalised with illnesses suspected of being the virus.