A/H1N1 flu diagnosed in 70 Russian regions last week

The A/H1N1 flu rate doubled since the previous week, and the flu strain was diagnosed in 70 regions instead of 46 earlier, the service said.

"Some 31.5% of cold and flu patients had flu from January 24 through January 30, including 20.8% of A/H1N1, 1.7% of A/H3N2 and 8% of B," the service said.

The largest number of A/H1N1 flu cases was registered in the Altai territory, St. Petersburg and the Kaluga region. The pandemic A/H1N1-09 prevails in the Central, Urals, Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts, while the B virus is reported from the Southern and Volga federal districts. Both virus have an equal percentage in the Northwestern Federal District.

Russian Chief Public Health Official Gennady Onishchenko said in late January that school principals were free to suspend classes amid the cold and flu epidemic.

Primary and secondary school classes in Moscow were suspended for a week starting from January 31 due to the high cold and flu rate in the city, city education department spokesman Alexander Gavrilov said, referring to the recommendation from Moscow Chief Public Health Official Nikolai Filatov.

"The cold and flu rate in Moscow grew by 1.5 times in the week from January 17 through 23, and 57.2% of the patients are children," he said. "The cold and flu rate is the highest amongst schoolchildren; it is 42.6% higher than the epidemic threshold"; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.

See www.itar-tass.com for full version.