Almost after five months, the swine flu scare in Gujarat has returned as temperature is gradually going down. Since August, nearly 400 cases of swine flu have been registered and the authorities have confirmed death of 45 people due to the fatal disease.
The State has experienced more intense swine flu scare from January to March this year. During the period over 400 people succumbed to H1N1 virus and number of persons infected by it had crossed 6,300.
On Tuesday, 10 more cases of swine flu were registered from across the State — 2 each in Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Porbander and one each in Ahmedabad and Rajkot. Two casualties due to the disease have also been reported from Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
According to the State health department, since August 2015, total 392 cases of swine flu were registered in Gujarat. Of these, 293 have been cured, 45 have died and 54 are under treatment.
“This is the official figure. The State Government has gathered the data from various health centres and hospitals. However, unofficial figure may be much higher as in the lower strata of the society, people hardly go to the hospital,” said a doctor requesting anonymity. According to him, this is just a beginning, as the mercury starts plummeting there are chances of the virus spreading to more areas.
It is worth mentioning that due to swine flu scare, people had stopped attending public functions and many were seen wearing masks on their faces just five months ago in the State. Once again medical practitioners in the State fear similar situation in coming days. Even the Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ganapat Vasava and few other MlAs including Minister of State for Health Shanker Chaudhry were also in the grip of H1N1 virus earlier this year.
The State health department is planning to start awareness drive as part of precautionary measure and prevent the spread of disease.