Swine flu cases in India cross 11,000 mark; toll 703

Forty more deaths due to contagious swine flu were reported in the country taking the toll to 703 as the virus continued to spread its tentacles to new states, including Mizoram, with the number of cases crossing the 11,000 mark on Thursday.



This prompted Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth to chair a high-level meeting during which he asked the states to ensure setting up of necessary helplines and round-the-clock functioning of outbreak monitoring cells.

Those infected with H1N1 virus are 11071, a new high in recent years, with number of cases showing increase in states Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Telangana. 

While officials maintained that there was no dearth of medicines and hospitals were equipped to deal with swine flu, the death reports continued to pour-in from states.

Seth, while chairing a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee to review the swine flu outbreak in the country, also directed drug controllers of states to ensure availability of necessary vaccines, along with guidelines for vaccination and treatment protocol.

"The Cabinet Secretary stressed that the states should ensure that the outbreak monitoring cells and necessary helplines function round-the-clock. The drug controllers should ensure availability of necessary medicines such as tablets, capsules and vaccines, along with guidelines for vaccination and treatment protocol," the Union health ministry said in a statement.

After the meeting, Seth said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instructed that there should be no shortage of medicines and patients should get necessary treatment.

All assistance will be provided to the states to deal with the situation, he said.

Meanwhile, teams of experts from the Ministry visited states of Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to extend technical support.

The ministry has asked states to study patterns in mortality such as which areas, age groups and section of people have been most affected, in addition to deaths due to co-morbid conditions.

According to Delhi government officials, 1789 swine flue cases have been reported so far and six people have died due to this disease in the city, which has granted licence to 40 new drug stores to sell Tamiflu tablets for treatment of swine flu in the national capital.

The city government has ordered all private medical labs not to charge more than Rs 4,500 to carry out tests for the viral disease.

The move comes following complaints of several patients that tests are being conducted at exorbitant rates in the city's private labs. 

In Kashmir, swine flu claimed four lives even as eight new cases were reported on Thursday.

The administration has ordered a separate Pulmonary Medicine clinic outside of the hospital premises where patients shall be screened. Hospital staff has also been directed to collect samples in that area only so that the patients do not entail a lot of movement, the sources said.

"Despite the scare associated with the infection, the virus is a considerably weak one and most of the cases can be managed at home where they are advised social distancing and antiviral drugs if required. It is only a few cases who require admission. Mortality with this virus is particularly low," Dr Parvaiz Koul, head of the department of Internal and Pulmonary Medicine at the tertiary care hospital told rediff.com.

"It is important that people do not panic and un-necessarily burden the health care institutions. Most patients can be managed at various local levels using standard guidelines of treatment and infection control. Only those who get complications should be attending tertiary care facilities," he added.

Asked about the facilities available, he informed that ‘at present the position is comfortable in terms of drugs, vaccines and protective gear, but if the volume of patients gets bigger, no system is replete with infinite capacity and can get overwhelmed’.

Rajasthan has reported the highest number of 191 deaths, followed by Gujarat with 167, Telangana 46 and Punjab 29. 

A Mizo woman was detected with swine flu, the first case in the northeastern state. A senior health official in Aizawl said the woman was in New Delhi for a brief period and it is suspected that she contracted the H1N1 virus in the national capital.

In Nagaland, the health department has placed orders for 1000 tablets of Oseltamivir and 100 bottles of Susp Oseltamivir from the Centre to counter H1N1 flu, following the first case reported in the state on Wednesday. 

In Rajasthan, swine flu has claimed eight more lives in since Wednesday. A total of 3,648 patients have tested positive since January 1, an official of Medical and Health Directorate said.

The virus has claimed 83 lives in Maharashtra, while 40 of the 205 patients, currently being treated at various hospitals in the state are on ventilator, an official said.

With inputs from Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar