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Ukraine's flu death toll climbs to 171 since last week

Xinhua, February 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The number of people killed by severe flu in Ukraine during the ongoing cold season has more than doubled since the last week and now stands at 171, the country's Health Ministry said Monday.

The figure, which was up from 83 cases reported on Jan. 26, includes two children under 17, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

According to the statement, the H1N1, the so-called swine flu, was the overwhelmingly dominant strain which killed 147 people, with 22 victims dying of the atypical influenza, while the flu of B type was responsible for two deaths.

Odessa region in the country's south was hit the worst by the flu outbreak with 33 confirmed fatalities, 13 deaths were registered in central Vinnitsa region and 12 -- in south-eastern Zaporozhe region, the statement said.

Since late September 2015, influenza has affected about 3.2 million of Ukrainians or 8.3 percent of the country's population, it said.

Last week, a flu epidemic was declared in the East European country. Endit