Ukraine closes all schools to fight swine flu

Ukraine urged its citizens not to panic as it closed schools across the country for a week on Monday to prevent the spread of swine flu, and proposed closing nightclubs, cinemas and food markets.

The World Health Organization said on Monday that there was no evidence of a massive outbreak of swine flu in Ukraine, but that at the government's request it had sent a health team to help. "This is not an indication that the situation is serious," said WHO spokeswoman Liuba Negru. "We got the information we have from the government; we have to check it and make sure it is real and evidence-based."

Ukraine's health ministry said on Monday that 67 people in the country of 40 million had died of flu, but didn't say how many deaths were linked to swine flu. Worldwide, seasonal flu kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Even so, all schools were closed for a week, even in the capital, Kyiv, where there were no confirmed cases of swine flu. In western Ukraine, the ministry said, local authorities advised people to travel only when necessary; all open-air markets in the western Lviv region were closed, and the governor urged cinemas, cafés, nightclubs and theatres to close until further notice.

Some observers, including parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, suggested the measures were the result of political rivalry before the presidential election in January. "We are witnessing a political competition over who will be first to lead this process," Lytvyn said.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko received a Swiss shipment of antiviral drugs at Kyiv airport on Monday. "The government has declared an epidemic, but there is no need to panic," she said on national television. Her main rival, President Viktor Yushchenko, said thousands were infected and called for help from NATO, the European Commission, the United States, Russia and other countries.

Kostiantyn Bondarenko, director of the Gorshenin Institute, a political consultancy, said Tymoshenko had a lot to lose from public feeling about the outbreak. "Right now all the candidates are weighing their political options. It's a hot topic, there is panic, and they are acting on it."

After receiving 300,000 doses of Tamiflu at Kyiv airport, Tymoshenko said her government planned to increase its stock of the drug from 300,000 to 950,000 doses. "This is what will protect Ukraine," she said.

Viktor Yanukovych, the Party of Regions' presidential candidate, had not yet commented on the swine flu furore. Yanukovych, who lost to Yushchenko in 2005, now leads the polls on a promise of closer ties with Russia. During Yushchenko's five years as president, relations with Moscow reached historic lows, and his popularity at home has fallen below 10% after the economic crisis that hit Ukraine and years of political deadlock with Tymoshenko.