As swine flu virus continues to spread its tentacles across the country, it claimed 38 more lives on Sunday, taking the toll to 812, while around 725 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours taking the number of patients to nearly 13,688. The Government, however, issued instructions to ensure availability of medicines in chemist shops.
Meanwhile, Delhi on Sunday reported 84 fresh cases of swine flu, taking the total number of cases, reported, so far this year to 2,241. Rajasthan and Gujarat remained the worst-hit States with 212 and 207 fatalities, respectively, this year. Gujarat has also reported 4,318 H1N1 positive cases since January 1. A senior official said that in West Bengal, four new cases of the H1N1 virus were reported during the day, taking the total number of affected persons to 67, while seven more persons succumbed to swine flu in Rajasthan. Out of 4,318 patients, who tested positive for the HINI virus, 212 have died so far this year.
Meanwhile, seven deaths due to the disease were reported in Maharashtra on Sunday, taking the toll to 99 while in Jammu and Kashmir, one more patient died of swine flu, taking the fatalities to five. At least 119 people have tested positive for the disease so far in the State. In Gujarat, the virus has claimed 11 more lives in Gujarat, taking the total toll in the state to 197 since January this year while seven deaths were reported in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours, taking the number of disease-related deaths in the state to 99. So far, there have been 911 cases and as many as 39 people infected by the H1N1 virus are on ventilator.
Three persons have died of swine flu in Uttarakhand this year and 14 persons afflicted by it are undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the state. As many as 30 new patients of H1N1 patients have been detected in Uttar Pradesh, taking the total number of those affected in the State to 280. “The Health Ministry has already asked the state drug controllers to ensure that chemist shops display prominently availability of medicines for its treatment and set up a “Swine Flu Drugs Availability Monitoring Cell” with a designated officer to ensure close monitoring of availability of drugs and vaccines.
Swine flu is caused by H1N1 virus. Symptoms for swine flu include high fever, headache, muscle pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain and internal and external bleeding.