Swine flu makes way into the software sector

The threat of the spread of the lethal virus looms large in the state after the revelation that one employee each at Google and MindTree was reported down with the influenza. Fears stalked the corridors of these two software companies, as also the rest of the city, following the disclosure.

Google office shut for two days
Google has shut its Hyderabad office for two days after one of its staff tested positive for the Influenza A (H1N1). The Hyderabad office, employs 250 workers and was shut so that it could be sanitized.

The employee had lately come back from the United States. However, he did not show any flu like symptoms when he was screened at the airport.

"One of our contractual workers in Hyderabad has been diagnosed with the virus. He has been hospitalized and is under full medical care. As a precautionary measure we have closed the concerned office for two days," Google said in a statement.

The main office of the internet behemoth in the city however remained open and functioned normally.

The worker who tested positive for the swine flu reportedly infected six other people. K. Subhakar, the coordinator of state-run Swine Flu Nodal Center confirmed that these six victims had a shared lodging with him.

All the seven patients linked to the Google employee have been quarantined in the Government Chest Hospital for treatment, the coordinator disclosed.

Home isolation for employees
Meanwhile all employees at MindTree, another company in Hyderabad, were forced to wear masks when on of the company’s employee tested positive for the influenza.

At a counselling session held in its office at Banjara Hills, the district administration recommended ‘home isolation’ for some of the employees of the company.

“This is the first time we are advising home isolation, but then this flu is something new too,” noted District Medical and Health Officer Ch. Jaya Kumari.