Six swine flu deaths take India’s toll to 131

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH - Six people, including three in Maharashtra, died of swine flu Sunday, taking India’s toll to 131, health authorities said in New Delhi.

With the latest three deaths, the toll in Maharashtra due to the influenza A (H1N1) virus has jumped to 62. One death each was reported from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Moreover, 93 fresh cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people affected with the flu to 4,738.

Till date, samples from 24,943 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) in various government and private laboratories across the country, and 4,738 of them have been found positive, according to a health ministry statement.

Of the 93 fresh cases, 35 are reported from Delhi, which now has 809 affected cases - the second highest in the country.

Maharashtra, which leads the country in terms of both deaths and flue cases, Sunday reported 19 new cases, taking the number of people affected with the virus to 1,823.

Karnataka reported 17 new cases and the total number of patients in the state stood at 564 - the third highest in the country.

The other cases were reported from Andhra Pradesh (8), Gujarat (5), Kerala (3), Haryana (2), West Bengal (1), Uttarakhand (1), Uttar Pradesh (1) and Chhattishgarh (1).

In Chandigarh, authorities asked doctors and paramedical staff to take extra precautions against swine flu after the virus affected some of them in government hospitals.

Four doctors and two other staffers of the administrative department of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and the Government Hospital in Chandigarh in Sector 32 have tested positive in the past. Besides, the daughter of a senior doctor also got infected with the virus.

“Seeing the circumstances, we have instructed our doctors and other paramedical staff to remain cautious. However, there is no need to panic and the situation is well under control,” nodal officer for swine flu H.C. Gera told IANS.

According to health officials, 20 positive cases of swine flu have been detected in Chandigarh so far and of these over 25 percent are doctors and other members of the hospitals. However, no casualty has been reported so far from this disease in the region.