Top Russian Doctor Urges Ban On Studying In UK - Report
MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia must immediately ban the practice of sending groups of
school children to the U.K. to prevent the spread of swine flu, Russia's top
health official was quoted as saying Monday.
The comments by chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko, carried by the RIA-
Novosti news agency, came as the U.K. has emerged as the European country
hardest-hit by the global pandemic.
"The growing number of cases where illnesses suspected of being A(H1N1) flu
have been brought to Russia by groups of school children who were in England
with the goal of supposedly deepening their knowledge of English gives us reason
to conclude that there is a need for an immediate ban on the further sending of
such children's groups to England," Onishchenko said.
Onishchenko said he was especially concerned about a case in Yekaterinburg, a
city in Russia's Ural Mountains, where children returned from the U.K. with
symptoms resembling swine flu, RIA-Novosti reported.
There have been at least 12 confirmed cases of swine flu in Russia, where
officials have taken a range of sometimes controversial steps to prevent its
spread, including bans on meat imports and inspections of air travelers.
Last week, Russia's neighbour Kazakhstan confirmed the presence of swine flu
in a group of children who had returned from studies in London.
Sending young people to study at U.K. boarding schools and universities is
extremely popular among affluent Russians.
At least 30 people with swine flu have died in the U.K. since the pandemic
began, and last week officials said there were around 100,000 new cases of swine
flu in England, making it the hardest-hit country in Europe.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-27-090521ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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