Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Three more people - all in Maharashtra - died of swine flu Tuesday, taking the country’s toll to 138, health officials said here.
With the three deaths, the total number of people who have died in the state due to the contagious influenza has gone up to 65.

Meanwhile, 245 fresh cases were reported in the country, taking the number of people affected with the flu to 5,221.

“Till date, samples from 26,037 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) in various government and private laboratories across the country, and 5,221 of them have been found positive,” said a statement issued here.

In Delhi, a total of 84 people, including 38 children, tested positive for the flu, taking the total number of those affected with the influenza A(H1N1) virus to 994.

Four people have died so far in the Indian capital due to swine flu.

Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said the “situation is under control and the government is doing its best in providing treatment to H1N1 patients in government hospitals”.

She also advised people to visit a doctor at the earliest if any symptom of swine flu appears.

“Of the total cases (in Delhi), 846 people have been treated and discharged. At the moment, 147 people are under treatment - 16 of them are undergoing treatment at different hospitals, while rest of them are being home quarantined.”

She said 84 cases tested positive for the flu Tuesday. Of these, 36 have been advised to quarantine themselves at home, she said.

Walia said it has been made mandatory for four private empanelled laboratories testing H1N1 virus to report all the positive swine flu cases to the state nodal officers, to enable the government have full details about the total number of patients affected by H1N1 virus as well to ensure their full treatment and trace all those they came in contact with.

Apart from Delhi, some of the other states from where fresh cases were reported were Tamil Nadu (38), Haryana (27), Uttar Pradesh (22) and Karnataka (17).

Maharashtra, which has reported the maximum number of deaths and cases in the country, had two fresh cases. This has taken the total number of people in the state infected by the virus to 1,857.

–Indo-ASian News Service

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