Russia reports more than 5,600 swine flu cases

MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - More than 5,600 swine flu cases have been officially confirmed in Russia, the health minister said on Tuesday.

"As of November 17, a total of 5,613 people in 74 federal districts have been registered to have swine flu infections," Tatyana Golikova said, adding "98.9% of cases were confirmed after laboratory tests."

She said 132 people have severe infections.

Last week, the number of swine flu cases was reported to exceed 4,560 across Russia.

The official national death toll from the A/H1N1 virus has reached 16. Media reports earlier said there have been 26 human swine flu deaths registered in the country.

Mass swine flu vaccinations began in five Russian regions last week. Medical staff and employees at electrical power and water treatment plants and other facilities will be inoculated first.

Four vaccines against the virus have been tested and registered in Russia. The government has allocated 4 billion rubles ($140 million) to buy the initial 43 million doses of vaccines. Russia plans to have 35.5 million doses before the end of the year.

Golikova warned earlier this month against panic over the virus, which has caused a shortage of medical masks and antiviral medicines in clinics and retail drug stores, and pledged to step up control of drug stores' supplies and prices.

According to the World Health Organization, about 6,100 people have died from swine flu worldwide, with the total number of officially confirmed cases exceeding 482,000 in 199 countries as of November 7.