Ukraine: 1Million acute respiratory illnesses since Oct.

UPDATE: 32,443 more cases, 11 more deaths
Today at 07:26 | Staff and wire reports
Registered cases of flu-like sickness and acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) since October are nearing 1 million, according to the country’s Heath Ministry, which on Nov. 8 reported 969, 247 cases and 155 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in October.

That’s 32, 443 more cases and 11 more deaths than the Health Ministry reported on Nov. 7.

Looking on the bright side, ARI incidence and death are trending down. The Health Ministry reported 65, 767 more ARI cases and nine more deaths on Nov. 6, down a daily increase of 237, 160 cases and 40 deaths a day earlier on Nov. 5.

The number of flu-related and ARI cases registered daily since mid-October presently exceeds the epidemic threshold in 16 of 27 of the country’s oblasts, according to the latest statistics.

An international team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts is continuing its work in Ukraine, investigating an outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza.

Making sure the right information gets to the wider public – particularly information on the simple measures that everyone can take to reduce risks – is just one of the tasks of the WHO, which is helping devise an information outreach strategy using trained medical staff to explain what people can do to stop H1N1 pandemic (H1N1) 2009.

The most recent WHO/Europe influenza briefs on Ukraine and their surveillance bulletin for Europe are available here.