There are a lots of horror news about epidemic in Ukraine. There is a dedicated
blog in English and even Natural News website published
big post about this.
I live in Ukraine, more precisely, in L'viv - the center of the region where the most people died. So, I'll tell you how this really looks like from inside.
The Beginning
It started from massive and very aggressive mass-media hysteria about "deadly epidemic". There were a lots of news stories about people died in Western Ukraine. The main message was "we all would die".
At the very same time a lots of crazy gossips started spreading by alternate channels (instant messaging, internet forums, phone calls, talks on the streets). Those gossips were carefully planned because they originated from credible sources. E.g. the gossip about pneumonia plague originated from hospital stuff and the gossip about "air disinfection via chemicals from planes" originated from МНС (Ukraine analogue of 911 service).
Then people started to panic. They rushed to pharmacy shops and cleared all gauze bandage and flue medicines available in stocks. Surprisingly the price of gauze bandage jumped approximately 10 times (yes ten times).
The Progress
In a few days
our minister of public health announced the A/H1N1 epidemic in Ukraine. At that time there were lass than 100 deaths. The number of confirmed A/H1N1 cases were less than 10. The parliament passed the law to spend 1 billion UAH (1USD = ~8UAH) to fight epidemic. At that time only western region (where ~10% of population lives) was affected. There were almost 0 cases in central and eastern regions (where ~90% of population lives).
At this time quarantine was established in western regions. The quarantine generally means that schools, universities, theaters ans alike are closed. There are no "A/H1N1 checkpoints" in the country.
At this time a lots of people were wearing gauze bandage (mainly at open air).
Current state
About 1.4 million people were sick (including me). More than 300 has died. You may calculate death rate yourself if you wish. Epidemic is moving to the East - it's spreading to central and easter regions. In L'viv the number of people wearing gauze bandage has dropped dramatically.
Epilogue
There are no pneumonia plague. There are no piles of corpses on the streets (which would be there if 1.4 million people were plague infected).
The "quarantine" is still in place.
After arrival of Tamiflu our doctors use it for all patients regardless of their actual sickness (seasonal flue, A/H1N1, influenza, pneumonia).
The cause of most deaths is actually unknown. There are no facilities in Ukraine able to identify A/H1N1. Not even a single one. A small number of samples was send to London to confirm (or not) A/H1N1. So, the actual percentage of A/H1N1, seasonal flue, influenza is unknown.
The presidential elections are upcoming. They are scheduled for the January 2010.
The number of deaths caused by seasonal flue in previous years was from 4000 to 6000 per year. Until this year mass-media did not noticed this problem.
The number of deaths from tuberculosis is
more than 10000 per year. There is almost zero coverage of this problem in the news.
My opinion
There is a seasonal flue (like every year at this time). There may be other flue stains present. The fatality rate is approximately the same as of previous years.
The hysteria about "deadly epidemic" was well planned and organized. Government officials obtained the ability to steal "epidemic" money. And they do steal it (e.g.
a lots of drugs vanishes). The pharmaceutical companies rapidly increased prices for gauze bandage and flue drugs. Which resulted in huge profits. So, it looks like the reason was... the money.
