Following death of two women in the State the Uttarakhand health department has sounded a high alert on Swine flu.
The State has already reported 10 positive cases of disease out of which 06 are from the State capital Dehradun.
The Director General (DG) of State health Services, Dr Kusum Narriyal said that the department has been asked to be in a State of high alert to tackle the disease.
She said that the teams of the department are being asked to sanitise all the areas where the virus is expected to affect the population. The DG however added that the number of cases reported this year is much less than those of last year and the virus strain this time is very mild and less virulent.
The department has sounded alert in the districts of Dehradun, Tehri, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar. The district health officers here have been asked to keep sufficient stock of Tamiflu and H1N1 masks needed to prevent the disease.
The deaths of two women patients suffering from the diseases are reported from Haldwani and Dehradun districts. Confirming death of a 35-year-old female patient, the district in charge of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programe (IDSP), Dr Madan Bonal told The Pioneer that the death occurred on February 09 at Doon hospital.
He claimed that the department is fully prepared to meet any challenge on the disease front. Dr Bonal claimed that the district health service has sufficient stock of medicines and other equipment needed to tackle the diseases. Health experts are of view that the virus of of swine flu multiplies in the cold and humid weather and the prevailing weather condition is conducive for spread of the disease. The state health department had reported 98 swine flu cases last year.