8 more succumb to swine flu, death toll 374
POSTED October 9, 2009 - 10:44 | POSTED BY Jyoti Pal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on October 9, 2009 - 11:44
Out of the latest eight deaths, five were reported from the state of Maharashtra where the death toll has shot to 153.
The dreaded H1N1 has accounted for 106 deaths in the southern state of Karnataka. Out of these, majority (71) have been reported from Bangalore.
14 people have lost their lives in Delhi due to the virus.
Infections continue to rise
146 fresh cases were also reported from various parts of the country on Thursday, pushing the count of total infections to 11,507.
"Till date, samples from 48,355 persons have been tested for Influenza A in government laboratories and a few private laboratories across the country, and 11,507 of them have been found positive," a statement from the health ministry said.
Of the latest 146 cases, 44 were reported from the national capital Delhi. Till date, as many as 2998 infected cases have been reported from Delhi, next only to Maharashtra that has reported 3187 cases. The latter reported 35 fresh infections on Thursday alone.
"A total of 2,998 cases have tested positive for swine flu virus till date. Out of this more than 90 per cent patients have been treated and discharged," Kiran Walia, Delhi Health minister said. The Delhi infection count includes 1,574 children that have tested positive for the H1N1 virus.
18 fresh cases were reported from Kerala, 12 from Haryana and 10 from Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 9 fresh cases and a lone case was reported from Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
As many as seven positive cases were reported from the outlying Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the first instance of swine flu infections being reported from the islands.
Vaccine in India by mid-December
Although the government has not placed any orders for the swine flu shots as yet, it intends to introduce the vaccine for H1N1 by mid-December.
"We are planning to bring swine flu vaccines in India by mid December as December and January are the two months when the flu-related cases are traditionally been reported mostly in the country," Drug Controller General of India, Surinder Singh, said on the sidelines of a CII event.
When questioned about having placed an order for the vaccine, he said, "We would be meeting with ministry officials to take final decision on the import of vaccines."
