Some 9,000 Schools Placed in Quarantine in Russia Amid Flu Outbreak

About 9,000 schools and more than 1,600 kindergartens have been placed in quarantine in Russia due to the flu outbreak spreading across the country, a spokesperson for Russia’s public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The spokesperson told RIA Novosti that "8,891 school and 1,688 kindergartens are closed. In some cases, groups and classes are closed in preschool institutions."

As of Friday, Russia’s Ministry of Healthcare confirmed 126 flu-related deaths in the country as the outbreak continues to spread across many regions of Russia, with a growing number of swine flu cases.

Swine flu, an H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus, carries a higher fatality risk than the common flu. Pregnant women, diabetics and obese people are at high-risk of susceptibility to the virus.