By Richard Balmforth
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine closed schools and banned public meetings including election rallies and restricted travel on Friday for a three-week period after confirming its first death from H1N1 flu.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced the measures, saying the virus had reached epidemic levels in three parts of western Ukraine, where there has been an outbreak of respiratory illness since mid-October.
The epidemic coincides with the start of campaigning for a presidential election on January 17. Tymoshenko, herself a front-runner, said the emergency would affect campaign rallies.
“All our pre-election events have been canceled. They will not be held until the situation has stabilized,” she said in a televised statement.
President Viktor Yushchenko, a bitter rival of Tymoshenko’s, himself called off a public meeting in Kiev where he had been due to roll out his election program.
