Six new swine flu cases push India's tally to 56

Among the new cases, three were reported from Delhi, and one each from Hyderabad, Bangalore and Fatehgarh in Punjab, the health ministry said in a statement.

"Three more people have tested positive for the swine flu Saturday, including an indigenous case where the patient contracted the flu without going abroad," Delhi Health Secretary J.P. Singh told IANS.

Three cases in the national capital include: a 27-year-old male passenger who had travelled from Canada to New Delhi transiting Brussels June 17 and self-reported at the identified health facility, a four-and-half-year-old boy who travelled from Toronto transiting Brussels reaching Delhi June 17, and a 30-year-old man and a family contact of a positive case reported June 17.

The new case in Hyderabad is a 32-year-old man who had travelled from New York, transiting Mumbai. On reaching Hyderabad June 13, he self-reported at the identified health facility with swine flu-like symptoms June 18.

The single case in Fatehgarh Sahib is a 15-year-old boy, part of a group of 20 children and four teachers who had gone to Orlando, the US, on a NASA trip and had reached the Punjab town June 16.

Punjab health authorities were examining all children who had returned from the US study tour. Subsequent to this screening, the boy reported with symptoms of fever, running nose and sore throat June 18. All the contacts of these children have been traced and given chemoprophylaxis.

The single case reported in Bangalore is a 25-year-old man coming from Philaldephia via New York and London. A day after reaching Bangalore June 17, he reported at the health facility with the swine flu symptoms.

Indian health authorities have so far tested samples of 412 people, of whom 56 have been tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

Six of them are indigenous cases who got the infection from the positive cases traveled from abroad.

Among these people, 134 were identified through health screening at international airports, 20 through contact tracing and the rest had self-reported.

Twenty-one of the confirmed cases have been discharged while the rest of them are all stable and remain admitted to the identified health facility.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported 44,287 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection from 94 countries as on June 19. The pandemic has claimed 180 lives.

-IANS