With four more people falling prey to the lethal flu Wednesday, the mortality figure in the country has shot up to 1401.
According to reports from Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare one casualty occurred in Maharashtra today itself. The remaining three, including two on Madhya Pradesh and one in Maharashtra, had happened earlier but were confirmed as H1N1 related deaths today.
State-wise death count
As of now, Maharashtra, the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak in India, remains the state with the highest number of fatalities, accounting for 382 lives lost.
In the other states, 299 succumbed to the virus in Gujarat, 194 in Rajasthan, 148 in Karnataka, 95 in Delhi, 52 in Andhra Pradesh, 40 in Punjab, 38 in Haryana, 37 in Kerala, 28 in Madhya Pradesh, 19 in Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, 13 died in Uttarakhand, 11 in Chhattisgarh, eight each in Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, seven in Tamil Nadu, six in Puducherry, five in Goa, four in Jammu & Kashmir, three in Orissa, two in Assam and one each in Mizoram and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
Update of infections across the country
Despite infections having quieted, transmission persists with sporadic cases emerging daily from across the country.
According to health officials 24 cases were registered today from various parts of the country. These included 15 in Maharashtra, six in Karnataka, and one each in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
With the fresh cases, the total number of positive cases of H1N1 confirmed by both government and private laboratories in the nation has risen to 29,880.
Fluvac to hit the market by April-May
Although precautions like washing hands and covering sneezes and cough help, the H1N1 vaccine is still the best way to deter illness.
The indigenous swine flu vaccine Fluvac, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), is likely to be out for commercial use by April-May 2010.
The SII received the go-ahead signal on March 5 from Drug Controller General of India to carry out the advanced safety test on H1N1 vaccine.
Executive director S Jadhav of SII stated, "The single dose vaccine will be available in two forms —nasal spray and as an injectable.
"The inhalation vaccine uses a live virus, which will be administered to three age groups. Further trials will be carried out later to test safety of the injectable vaccine on another set of people.”
The single dose vaccine will cost around Rs 150 to Rs 200. Other Indian pharmaceutical companies working on swine flu vaccines are Bharat Biotech, Panacea Biotech, and Zydus Cadila.
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