Two more deaths take India's swine flu toll to 25

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 15th August, 2009 (IANS)

New Delhi/Bangalore Aug 15 (IANS) With two more deaths in Bangalore, India's swine flu toll has reached 25, even as 165 people tested positive for the virus Saturday to take the total number of infected people in the country to 1,556, officials said.

Two people died of the influenza A (H1N1) virus in the Karantaka capital Friday, taking the toll in the city to three, the officials said.

Shivanna, 55, died at Wockhardt Hospital in west Bangalore and Manjunath, 28, in Vydehi Medical Institute in eastern part of the city.

Shivanna, a resident of Rajajinagar in west Bangalore, was admitted to Wockhardt Aug 12 after complaining of breathlessness. Manjunath, a weaver in Dommasandra on the outskirts of Bangalore, was admitted in a serious condition Aug 13, a Vydehi institute spokesperson said Saturday.

At least 7,752 people have been tested so far, out of which 1,556 are positive for influenza A (H1N1). 'Of the positive cases, 689 have been discharged,' an official statement said.

In Delhi, health ministry officials said a total of 165 positive cases were reported in India Saturday. 'Of the 165 cases, 97 are from Maharashtra, but none of them have a travel history,' the statement added.

Pune, the city worst-hit by the flu, reported 69 new cases.

The other new cases were from Delhi (15), Kerala (13), Karanataka (12), Tamil Naidu (5), Kolkata (4), Shillong (4), Pondicherry (3), Mizoram, Gurgaon (2 each) and Gujarat, Goa, Hyderabad, Patna, Noida, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Faridabad (one each).

'All the cases reported from Delhi, Bangalore, Mangalore, Kolkata, Shillong, Mizoram, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Faridabad and Ahmedabad are indigenous cases with no known overseas travel history,' the statement added.

A 48-year-old man who had travelled from Britain tested positive in Patna.

In Noida, a 23-year-old woman who travelled from Canada also tested positive.

A 20-year-old woman reported from positive from Chandigarh. She had travelled from Hong Kong. One of the three cases in Haryana, a 32-year-old man, had travelled from Germany.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 177,457 swine flu cases have been reported till Aug 6, while 1,462 deaths have occurred worldwide, mostly in Mexico and the US.