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Serbia Announces Early School Break Citing H1N1
Belgrade | 15 December 2009 | Bojana Barlovac
Tanjug news agency reports that the country's Minister of Education Zarko Obradovic explained that the first day of school will be on 11 January and the first semester will end ten days later, so that the teachers will be able to give final grades for that semester.
"According to the information we have received from the working group monitoring the flu, the situation in Serbia is such that it is necessary to suspend school," the agency quoted Obradovic as saying.
The overall balance of swine flu victims in the world has reached at least 9,596 infected so far, of which some 800 fatalities were registered ast week, the Italian news agency Ansa reports. First on the list of countries with the number of swine flu victims is reportedly the US (at least 6,130 deaths), while Europe confirmed at least 1,242 virus related fatalities.
Serbia has registered 477 swine flu cases so far and 34 fatalities. The country's Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic announced a swine flu epidemic in the country on 11 November, meaning that nation-wide emergency vaccination can be carried out.
Milosavljevic said that he expects the vaccination, which will be free of charge, to begin on 17 December. "When you begin vaccination, the process will run continuously because it is, above all, the best protection for the population," he added.
For more info, please see Balkan Insight's Swine Flu Catches Up With Balkans
