Ukraine's PM says no need for state of emergency over flu
07/11/200918:22
KIEV, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Saturday she saw no need for declaring a state of emergency in the country over a flu epidemic that has killed 135 people.
Late on Friday, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) chief, Raisa Bohatyryova, said there were 'constitutional prerequisites' for a state of emergency amid the epidemic, which had left over 871,000 people infected as of November 6.
Tymoshenko said emergency measures, including quarantine, were being taken in a number of regions.
"Nothing beyond emergency measures is needed - it is only necessary to implement all organizational and medical procedures," the UNIAN news agency quoted Tymoshenko as saying.
Later on Friday, Ihor Popov, deputy chief of the presidential staff and presidential representative in Ukraine's parliament, said the NSDC would soon consider declaring a state of emergency which could delay the presidential polls scheduled on January 17, 2010 until May.
However, Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said neither the opposition Party of Regions, nor Tymoshenko's bloc was interested in such a decision, which would extend current President Viktor Yushchenko's term in office.
"Today, I can see no reason for taking such a decision," Lytvyn said when visiting the Cherkassy Region on Saturday. The city in central Ukraine, where some 4,100 people have been infected with flu, has also been put in quarantine.
Ukrainian election officials registered on Friday the final two candidates for the country's presidential election, bringing the field to 16. The list includes incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko, Tymoshenko and Party of Regions leader and former premier Viktor Yanukovych, who lost the previous vote to Yushchenko following the 2004 "orange revolution."
Both Yushchenko and Lytvyn are polling in the low single digits.
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