With two more persons succumbing to swine flu, the death toll due to the deadly H1N1 virus rose to 35 in Punjab this year. “The total number of suspected patients for swine flu stands at 330, out of which 147 have tested positive and 35 have succumbed to H1N1 so far,” said the State Surveillance Officer of Punjab Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Deepak Bhatia on Tuesday.
In neighbouring Haryana, swine flu has already claimed 20 lives this year while the number of positive cases has reached 135. As a part of Centre's guidelines issued to states to combat the H1N1 virus, health workers have been asked to screen people with symptoms of the flu on the basis of their severity and categorize them, Bhatia said.
He said that people have been advised to avoid crowded places, not to sneeze or spit without the use of tissue paper or handkerchief and adopt practises of frequent hand washing with soap and water.
“The testing facility for swine flu is available free of cost at PGI Chandigarh. People are advised to use handkerchief or tissues while sneezing or coughing and dispose it off in covered dustbins. Spitting of cough should not be done in public places,” he said. The Punjab health officer said that medicines for Swine Flu is available free of cost in all government health institutions and there is no shortage of medicine.