KRASNOYARSK, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The number of people confirmed as having the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk has grown to 70, Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Tuesday.
"As of today, 70 people are in hospital - 64 cadets and six students of a civil engineering college - with the A/H1N1 influenza diagnosis confirmed. Another 42 have a provisional diagnosis. Overall, there are 112 people in the hospital today," a spokeswoman said.
Russia's top sanitary official said Monday the number of people diagnosed with swine flu in Russia totaled 927. On October 15, there were 807 confirmed cases of swine flu in Russia. No one has died in Russia of the virus.
A number of schools have been temporarily closed in the country over swine flu fears, including every school in Chita, the capital of the Transbaikal Region, where 17 new cases of the H1N1 virus were confirmed on Monday. Of 108 total cases registered in the region, 66 patients have recovered.
The Chita schools will be closed for two weeks.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order on Monday allocating 4 billion rubles ($136 million) for the purchase of swine flu vaccines.
According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, close to 400,000 cases of swine flu have been confirmed throughout the world and over 4,700 people have died from the virus.
