India H1N1 death count 15, global 1,462

The news came just hours after three others in the state died of the same disease Wednesday morning, officials confirmed.

Tuesday reported the highest number of positive cases in a single day with 119 people testing positive for the dreaded H1N1 virus. The swine flu tally in the country has now touched 1,078 and is in no mood to stop.

India's commercial capital itself saw 11 of the country's 15 swine flu deaths - three in Mumbai alone.

A look at the deceased
The deceased Babu Genu Kuland, died in Sassoon Hospital in Mumbai at around 11 am. The resident of Pimpri town, near Pune, was hospitalised three days ago in a serious condition, becoming the latest fatality of the H1N1 influenza in the country, according to Pune Minicipal Corporation (health department) chief - SR Pardeshi.

Another Pimpri resident, Sanjay Mistry, 35, died in the Sassoon Hospital at the wee hours of Wednesday. He was hospitalised Sunday in a critical condition and was put on a ventilator, informed an official of the state swine flu control room.

Hardly hours after Mistry succumbed to the infection, Shravani Deshpande, 29, died due to the lethal virus. She was hospitalised three days before her death with pneumonia, and was later found to be suffering from swine flu. She was then put on a ventilator. She breathed her last around 3 am.

Rakesh Gargunde, a medico in Nashik Civil Hospital, also died due to swine flu around 3 am, informed civil surgeon AD Bhal Singh.

Gargunde was admitted to hospital in an unconscious state two days ago and put on a ventilator. The test report confirmed him suffering from the disease late Tuesday night.

63-year-old woman from Mumbra near Thane district died of the infection yesterday. On August 8, Fahmida Paanwala (53) became the first reported swine flu casualty in Mumbai.

Earlier, five people in Pune, two in Mumbai, two in Gujarat, one each in and Kerala and Tamil Nadu had died of swine flu in the country.

WHO: Global death toll rises to 1,462
The A/H1N1 influenza has caused 1,462 deaths worldwide since its outbreak in April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. In a latest update of the swine flu situation, the UN agency told that a total of 177,457 confirmed infections have been officially reported from all over 170 countries and regions.

According to a WHO spokeswoman, the H1N1 influenza, which was declared a pandemic in June, "(swine flu) appears to have peaked and is now in decline" in some countries of the southern hemisphere, including Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand.

But still the spread of the virus is being seen in many of the tropical countries in Asia, particularly in India, Thailand and Vietnam, he added.