It’s only a matter of days, maybe hours, before H1N1 reaches Poland, according to Polska’s front page leader. The epidemic is ravaging nearby Ukraine where 53 fatalities have been reported alongside 200,000 infections. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has ordered the closing of all schools and movie theatres, and WHO has sent in inspectors. “The flu knows no borders. There is no reason to believe Poland could be Europe’s flu-free area,” says professor Paweł Grzesiowski of the National Institute of Public Health. While the Polish government has recommended that people remain calm, provinces bordering Ukraine have already taken measures to prevent an epidemic: hospitals have prepared hundreds of beds, and border control posts are conducting ongoing sanitary inspections. The Ukrainian government has asked the Polish for help. Warsaw responded with the delivery yesterday in the town of L’viv of a respirator, protective masks and medicine.
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