Swine flu toll inches towards 1,900; No. of cases touches 32K

Swine flu claimed the lives of 33 more persons pushing the toll towards the 1900 mark, while the total number of persons affected by the H1N1 virus touched 32,000.

According to the Union Health Ministry, as on March 19, 1874 persons have perished to the disease while the number of affected persons across the states stood at 31,681.

The Ministry had on Thursday said that, as on March 18, 1,841 people have succumbed to the disease while the number of people affected by the H1N1 virus stood at 31,156.

In Gujarat, the number of people who have died of the disease has climbed to 404 while the number of affected persons was 6,301.

In Rajasthan, which is another of the worst affected states, 397 people have died while the number of affected persons stood at 6331.

Union Health ministry said that the death toll in Maharashtra is 334 with 3,907 people having contracted the H1N1 virus. In Madhya Pradesh, 274 people have perished with 2040 persons affected.

The toll in Telangana has reached 75 with the death of another person while in Karnataka, the death toll has risen to 77. One more person has died in Punjab taking the death toll to Fifty-three.

The toll in West Bengal is 23 while the toll has increased to 36 in Uttar Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir has seen 16 swine flu fatalities.

In Delhi, the toll has risen to 12 with the number of affected persons at 4,118.

Further, another person has died in Kerala taking the death toll to 12 while 13 people have died in Tamil Nadu.

Andhra Pradesh has now seen 22 swine flu fatalities while 20 people have died in Himanchal Pradesh. The disease has claimed the lives of 17 people in Chhattisgarh.

The health ministry study also found that 17 per cent of the deaths occurred in the age group 18-30 years while 12 per cent of the casualties were in the 60 and above category.

Meanwhile, as per a ministry study, 34 per cent of the 723 swine flu deaths that were analysed had occurred in the age group 30-45 years followed closely by those in the 45-60 bracket, who accounted for 32 per cent of the fatalities.