Ukraine reports 12 flu deaths in 24 hours
14:5818/11/2009 KIEV, November 18 (RIA Novosti) - The death toll from the flu epidemic in Ukraine has reached 328, with 12 deaths registered over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The number of officially confirmed H1N1 strain swine flu deaths in Ukraine has reached 15, with 166 people infected.
Last week, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) chief, Raisa Bohatyryova, said there were "constitutional prerequisites" for a state of emergency amid the flu epidemic, which has left a total of 1,457,564 people infected as of November 18.
A state of emergency, if it is declared, could delay the presidential polls scheduled on January 17, 2010 until May.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she saw no need for such measures.
The Ukrainian government imposed quarantines in nine western regions in late October in an attempt to curb the spread of flu. All educational establishments in Kiev were closed, and people were obliged to wear medical masks in all catering establishments, shops and social services facilities across the former Soviet republic.
The Ukrainian parliament has approved the allocation of 1 billion hryvnias ($125 million) on measures to fight swine and seasonal flu.
However, President Viktor Yushchenko has not signed the allocation plan, citing it would accelerate inflation and cause a decline in Ukraine's standards of living.
Yulia Tymoshenko said the president's refusal to allocate money would impede governmental efforts to fight the epidemic.
Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, as well as Party of Regions leader and former premier Viktor Yanukovych, who lost the previous vote to Yushchenko following the 2004 "orange revolution" are among the 16 candidates to run in the Ukrainian presidential election.
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