"England is the country most exposed [to the A(H1N1) virus] in Europe," ITAR-TASS quoted public health chief Gennady Onishchenko as saying. "Therefore I have signed a directive banning all trips by children to England for the month of August."

The measure was announced as Britain emerged as the European country hardest-hit by the pandemic.

Onishchenko said earlier Monday the "growing number of cases where illnesses suspected of being A(H1N1) flu have been brought to Russia by groups of school children, who were in England with the goal of supposedly deepening their knowledge of English, gives us reason to conclude that there is a need for an immediate ban on the further sending of such children's groups to England."

He said he was especially concerned about a case in Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia's Ural Mountains, where 14 children returned from Britain with symptoms resembling swine flu.

At least 28 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Russia, according to the latest toll given by Onishchenko.

Russian officials have taken a range of sometimes controversial steps to prevent the spread of swine flu, including bans on meat imports and inspections of air travelers.

Last week, Russia's southern neighbour Kazakhstan confirmed the presence of swine flu in a group of children who had returned from studies in London.

Sending young people to study at British boarding schools and universities is extremely popular among affluent Russians.

At least 30 people with swine flu have died in Britain since the pandemic began, and last week officials said there were around 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England, making it the hardest-hit country in Europe.

earlier related report
Spain records sixth death from swine flu
A 53-year-old man has died of swine flu in Spain, the health ministry said Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the disease in the country to six.

The man died at an unspecified date "from complications related to the influenza A(H1N1)" virus after being admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the eastern town of Alzira, the ministry said in a statement.

Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez later announced that Spain plans to vaccinate up to 40 percent of the population against swine flu.

She said the first to benefit would be health workers and others in essential services, pregnant women, children under age 14, and persons suffering from illnesses such as cardiovascular or respiratory diseases that put them at a higher risk.

The government plans to make available 37 million doses of the vaccine in the country of around 46 million, "bearing in mind that two doses per person will be necessary," she told a parliamentary committee.

The vaccines will be available in the autumn.

There are currently 1,806 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) in Spain, according to the ministry.

A 20-year-old Moroccan woman who was seven months pregnant became the first Spanish swine flu death in Madrid on June 30.

More than 800 people have been killed around the globe by the A(H1N1) virus, which first surfaced in Mexico, and the World Health Organisation has warned that the pandemic is now unstoppable.

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