MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 35 people have been diagnosed with the swine flu virus in Russia, the country's chief sanitary official told Ekho Moskvy radio on Thursday.
"A total of 35 patients have been registered to date. This has been confirmed by all the tests available in Russia," Gennady Onishchenko said, adding that the number of confirmed infections could rise by this evening.
He said 69 people with either confirmed or suspected swine flu infection currently remain in Moscow's hospital for infectious diseases, 14 of whom were admitted in the past 24 hours. The hospital is currently able to receive 160 patients in wards set aside for swine flu patients.
A source in the hospital earlier said that at least 90 people have been admitted with suspected swine flu.
The first batch of a vaccine against the A/H1N1 swine flu virus is expected to be ready in Russia by October 1.
Onishchenko said Russia would produce 16 million doses of the swine flu vaccine by the end of the year.
The total number of laboratory confirmed A/H1N1 cases stands at 168,895 worldwide, with 1,012 deaths.
