Swine flu has claimed 31 more lives on Saturday raising the toll to 774, while around 1,000 new H1N1 cases have been reported taking the number of patients to nearly 13,000 from different parts of the country. However, the Union Health Ministry maintained that there is no dearth of medicines and hospitals are equipped to deal with the situation.
“The number of persons affected due to swine flu is 12,963 while the toll stands 774. Till February 20, the total number of persons infected with H1N1 virus stood at 11,955 while the number of deaths was 743,” a senior health official said. In Telangana, two more swine flu deaths and 47 new cases of the H1N1 virus have been reported. Fatality from the disease has crossed 50-mark in the State and 1,233 people still fighting it.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh has reported 25 fresh cases of swine flu, taking the number to 190 in the State. Chief Medical Officer of lucknow SNS Yadav said that 24 new cases have been detected in the State capital in the last 24 hours. Total 15 districts of the State have been affected with the disease. Delhi has reported nine deaths. In Kashmir, thirteen more people have tested positive for swine flu during the last 24 hours, taking the number of infected persons to 109, with no new death reported so far. The death toll in Rajasthan has reached 206, while the number of affected persons is the highest at 4,185. In Gujarat, it stood at 186 while 2,637 persons have been affected by it.
Concerned over the upsurge in cases, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth had chaired a high-level meeting recently during which he asked the States to ensure setting up of necessary helplines and round-the-clock functioning of outbreak monitoring cells. A team of experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also been asked to study patterns in mortality across the country on the basis of area, age group and section, in addition to deaths due to co-morbid conditions.