The flu situation in Moscow is viewed as non-epidemic, Itar-Tass quoted Russia's chief sanitary officer Gennady Onishchenko as tolding reporters today. "The incidence of flu and acute viral infections" is 27.5 percent below the average threshold level. Medics reported 73,787 cases of flu and acute viral infections last week. The indicator was 708 patients per 100,000 population," Onishchenko said. "In general, the flu situation in the country is favorable at present, with only seven cities gripped by the epidemic," he went on to say. Epidemiological thresholds have been exceeded in Astrakhan, Barnaul, Belgorod, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Izhevsk and Chelyabinsk. These are the only cities where the flu sickness rate is higher, Onishchenko said, adding that the sickness rate was increasing fast in Arkhangelsk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Orel. The chief sanitary officer noted that the flu virus of the "A" and "B" types was circulating in Russia at present, with the "B" type noted for its duration. The flu incidence has peaked in Russia's westernmost Kaliningrad region because of an unfavorable flu situation in neighboring countries. "There are eleven such countries in Europe," Onishchenko added. The vaccination of the population, in which every fifth Russian was inoculated, has contributed to the low incidence of the disease in the country.
