KIEV -- Ukraine's Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that the flu outbreak and respiratory infections have already claimed a total of 86 lives in the country.
According to Lyudmila Mukharska, Ukraine's deputy chief health officer, since mid-October, about 478,000 people were reported to the national health authorities as sickened by the flu, of whom 17 have been confirmed as influenza A/H1N1.
Mukharska added that Ukraine's death toll from flu-related diseases since mid-October rose to 86, while 24,000 people have been admitted in hospitals.
Health authorities had confirmed that of the 86 registered fatalities, four had succumbed to the A/H1N1 virus. The epidemic is more evident in the western region of the country which shares borders with four European Union nations.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday ordered a three-week shut down of the country's schools and movie houses.
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