The total number of swine flu cases in Hyderabad has mounted to 36 with five more passengers returning from abroad testing positive.
Two passengers, who returned from Dubai on Wednesday, were found to be suffering from the swine flu and they were admitted to the Government Chest Hospital. On Tuesday, three new cases had tested positive.
K Subhakar, the coordinator, Swine Flu Nodal Centre in Hyderabad said that a 35-year-old woman coming from Florida has tested positive for AH1N1 virus. The other two are 28-year-old passengers from Sydney and Thailand, he said.
They have been admitted to the quarantine ward at the Government Chest Hospital. It has come close on the heel of 8 people, including seven workers of different IT companies including Google, were found to be suffering from Swine Flu.
One of the two facilities of Google remained close for the second day on Wednesday. While the company has confirmed that one of its workers had tested positive, four others from the same facility were also under observation at the hospital.
A two-year-old boy, whose family had returned from Dubai, was also admitted to hospital after he was diagnosed suffering from the virus.
Since May 16, a total of 34 people tested positive for the virus and 21 of them have been admitted and discharged. Apart from the 13 swine flu cases under treatment at quarantine ward, 22 other suspected cases were also admitted to the different hospitals, including special wards in Kondapur and Vanasthalipuram hospitals in the city.
Till now, all swabs were being sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, but now authorities have started testing them at the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Hyderabad.
"Samples will be tested simultaneously at both the places for ten days for cross checking. After that independent testing at IPM will start," Subhakar said.