# 3970
A Saturday morning roundup of stories out of the Ukraine, where pandemic concerns are reportedly forcing some officials to consider postponing elections until the spring.
This first report (hat tip Dutchy on FluTrackers) comes from RIA Novosti:
The number of flu victims in Ukraine has reached 135 people
12:08 07/11/2009
KIEV, Nov. 7 - RIA Novosti. Number of victims of a flu epidemic declared in Ukraine in late October, as of November 6 had increased to 135 people, informs the Ministry of Health website on Saturday.
Most victims of influenza in the Lviv Oblast - 57 people. In addition, 20 people died of influenza in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, 17 - in Ternopil, 14 - in Chernivtsi, five - in Khmelnytsky, four - in Volyn and Rivne, two - in the Carpathian and Vinnitsa. All these areas are in western Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the epidemic is spreading to other regions of the country. Thus, in the Kiev region recorded two deaths, one - in Donetsk, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy region, as well as in the Crimea and Kiev.
Since the beginning of the epidemic ill 871 thousand 37 people, 39 thousand 603 people hospitalized.
The report does not say how many cases of influenza A/H1N1. On the eve of the Ministry of Health reported 32 cases of swine flu, and 14 confirmed deaths from it.
The pandemic has not only brought out charges of political opportunism, it may also end up in delaying the Presidential elections scheduled for January. At least according to an opinion piece written yesterday by a Presidential Aide.
This from the Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian election might be postponed
Yesterday at 22:05Ukraine's presidential election in January could be postponed because of swine flu, a newspaper quoted a government official as saying Friday.
Igor Popov, an aide to President Viktor Yushchenko, said in the Ukrainskaya Pravda daily that the government might declare an emergency and reschedule the election on May 30.
"The epidemic has radically changed the course of the election campaign," Popov was quoted as saying. "A ban on public events has affected opposition candidates."
He added that presidential hopefuls with government jobs can freely visit regions that are quarantined because of the flu, while opposition candidates cannot and "feel discriminated upon."
A total of 16 candidates have been registered so far, election officials said.
Ukraine's flu death toll has climbed to 109 since last week's outbreak in the western city of Ternopil. The World Health Organization says most flu cases in the country can be assumed to be H1N1.
Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his former ally turned bitter foe, will face off for the presidency at the election.
The vote might overturn the results of the 2004 Orange Revolution that swept a pro-Western government to power in Ukraine.
Leading in the polls is Viktor Yanukovich, who was beaten in 2005 by Yushchenko, but has pulled ahead on a platform that emphasizes closer ties with Russia.
In the aftermath of floating this idea, a number of candidates and officials have come out against any postponement of the elections.
Tymoshenko: No reason to postpone Jan. 17 presidential election in Ukraine
Uzhgorod, November 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has again said there are no grounds to postpone presidential elections in the country.
Yatseniuk: Nobody will postpone elections
Candidate for Ukraine's president Arseniy Yatseniuk has said he is totally against the postponement of presidential elections due to the possible introduction of a state of emergency in the country in connection with the flu epidemic.
And courtesy of Florida1 on Flutrackers, we get this report from the Kyiv Post about the disputes between city government and the Health Ministry on how to deal with the pandemic.
Kyiv mayor insists on imposing quarantine in capital
Yesterday at 15:16 | Interfax-UkraineThe mayor's office of Kyiv is insisting on imposing a quarantine on the capital, Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky has said at a briefing on Nov. 6.
According to him, the Health Ministry has refused to impose quarantine in Kyiv.
"I don't understand the reasons why quarantine wasn't imposed. I think that we will continue the fight so that a quarantine is announced in Kyiv, until the Health Ministry decides on the vaccination of Kyiv residents," Chernovetsky said.
"I think, while we are finding out what we are facing with, this is a pandemic and quarantine should have been imposed in Kyiv, as well as in other regions," he added.
"A quarantine regime will let me close night clubs and other mass, scale events in Kyiv, and the person who doesn't understand that this should be done could be held responsible for the consequences," the mayor said.
Chernovetsky explained that quarantine is needed because every day hundreds of people arrive in Kyiv, in particular, via railway stations, bus terminals and airports.
At the same time, according to him, the number of people on public transport has decreased by 30%, many people are using gauze masks.
He also reported that in Kyiv, as well as in other cities, there is a problem with medication, as "the two month reserve of medicines has been purchased from drugstores," but currently the government is doing everything possible so as to import medications.
Chernovetsky also said that Kyiv mayor's office had asked cities abroad to provide humanitarian aid.
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