Swine flu cases in Belarus 4.5-fold higher than in Ukraine

• 5.11.2009, 11:02

According to the Ministry of Health, 85 people suffer from swine flu in Belarus. Seven of them died. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine says 17 swine flu cases have been detected in the country, 6 people died.

Thus, if take into account that the population of Ukraine exceeds the population of Belarus 5 times, the number of swine flu cases per capita in Belarus is 20-fold higher than in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian authorities announced an epidemic and applied for international aid, the Ukrainians have all necessary medicines now. The Belarusian authorities say there is no epidemic in the country, drugstores lack of antivirus and immune-enhancing medicines, hospitals are overcrowded with patients with pneumonia, who can’t get necessary treatment because of the lack of medicines.

We remind that in the evening of November 4, official media said referring to the Ministry of Health that a seasonal increase of acute respiratory infections started in Belarus. The number of ill persons is greater by 70 percent if comparing with the last year.

The number of pneumonia cases is growing in the country, the Ministry of Health notes. The total number of people suffering from pneumonia is 2154. 19 lethal outcomes have been registered for the last 19 weeks.

In total, 85 cases of swine influenza have been detected in the republic, officials say. 31 persons are in hospitals, 47 persons recovered. The virus A(H1N1) was found at 7 out of 19 patients, died from pneumonia.

Far more people that officially announced 85 obviously have swine flu in Belarus. As the Ministry of Health reported earlier, most patients with pneumonia are not tested for swine flu. It should be noticed that the death rate from wine flu in the world is less than 1 percent.