Australian, boy die from swine flu in Russia: reports

An Australian tourist and a child have died in Russia after suffering from swine flu, local media reported Monday.

The 61-year old Australian, who was visiting the country on a tourist visa to marry his Russian girlfriend, died in Ufa in the Volga region earlier in January, the reports said.

The man was allegedly contaminated during a flight by his neighbour who had embarked from Hong Kong, popular daily Komsomolskaia pravda reported.

Separately, a Russian boy died Saturday in northern Kirovsk a day after being hospitalised, local doctor Liudmila Stepina told Itar-Tass news agency.

“The child was not innoculated against this type of flu,” she added, without revealing his age.

The World Health Organisation last August declared that the H1N1 — commonly known as swine flu — pandemic was over, more than a year after it threw the world into a panic.