Two More Cases Of Swine Flu Confirmed in Indian Banglore

Bangalore: In more worrying news for Indian health officials, two more cases of swine flu have been reported taking the total number of confirmed victims in the country to 19.

In the latest case, a mother and her daughter, who returned to Bangalore from the US, have been detected with the H1N1 virus. The duo has now been shifted to an isolation unit in a hospital here.

Meanwhile, a meeting of a joint monitoring panel is scheduled for Sunday noon, which will discuss the status of the virus’ spread in India. Apart from health officials, members of the WHO, NICD and other health experts in the country are also expected to attend the meeting.

Commenting on the rapid spread of swine flu, Health Secretary Naresh Dayal yesterday said, “They say that the H1N1 group of viruses proliferate more when the weather is slightly cooler. We are happy that this time it is not proliferating so much because the temperature is high. But after the monsoon there is a chance that it can come again.”

A total of 29,699 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection from74 countries as on June 12 have been reported so far by the World Health Organization. There have been 145 deaths from the virus so far.

In a release yesterday, the government said that health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing at 21 international airports. Nearly 50,000 passengers had been screened till yesterday. Of these, around 26,482 passengers were from affected countries. A total of 221 doctors and 111 paramedics have been deployed to man 76 counters at these airports.

Tags: Indian Banglore, Swine Flu