New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) Eight more swine flu deaths were reported in India Friday, taking the total toll due to Influenza A (H1N1) virus to 683, health authorities said.
Health officials said they are hoping that a dip in temperature would mean a decrease in swine flu cases and deaths.

The country also reported 343 new cases, taking the total number of people affected with the contagious flu to 21,272.

Three deaths each were recorded from Gujarat and the national capital, while one case each was reported from Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.

With the three deaths in the Indian capital, the toll has now touched 39, while in Gujarat it is 55.

Maharashtra, however, continues to top the list with 238 deaths due to the flu. In Uttarakhand, so far, nine deaths have been reported.

The first death in the country was reported Aug 3 from Pune.

In New Delhi, Anjana Prakash, the state’s assistant nodal officer for swine flu told IANS that with the winters getting severe, the number of swine flu cases may go down.

“While the number of swine flu cases rose with the dipping temperatures, as the mercury level goes further down, we are expecting the number of swine flu cases to drop too,” she told IANS.

The swine flu virus requires a favourable temperature to flourish and severe winters don’t serve that purpose,” she said.

In the national capital, a 28-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man died of flu in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, while a 54-year-old man died in another hospital.

On Friday, 250 new cases were reported in the capital, taking the number of people affected with the virus to 7,019. “Of the 250 new cases on Friday, 158 were children,” Prakash said.

New cases were also reported from Haryana (39), Maharashtra (23), Karnataka (17), Gujarat (4) and Goa (1).