Ukraine Flu Death Toll Tops 280

The death toll of the influenza epidemic in Ukraine has reached 286, the Health Ministry has said.

According to the ministry on February 15, two pregnant women and four young people under 17 years of age were among those killed by the flu since late September.

The largest number of deaths from the flu has been registered in the regions of Kyiv and Odesa.

The ministry did not specify if the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, was the cause of any of the deaths, as some earlier Ukrainian media reports had said.

On January 26, Health Minister Aleksandr Kvitashvili officially announced a flu epidemic in the country.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and DailyLviv.com