With one more person succumbing to swine flu, the death toll due to deadly H1N1 virus has climbed to 36 in Punjab this year while 22 lives have been lost in neighbouring Haryana so far.
“A 58-year-old doctor who ran his private clinic in ludhiana died due to swine flu. With his death, 36 people have so far succumbed to the disease in Punjab, while 152 patients have tested positive,” said Deepak Bhatia, State Surveillance Officer of Punjab Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, on Wednesday.
In neighbouring Haryana, with two more persons succumbing to swine flu during the past two days, the toll has now reached 22 this year while the number of positive cases stands at 148.
As part of Central Government’s guidelines to the States issued to combat H1N1 virus, health workers have been asked to screen people with symptoms of the flu on the basis of their severity and categorise them.