The Union health ministry advisory that urges Indians to avoid international travel as a precaution against swine flu has family travellers worried and the travel industry more so.
A total of six counters have been set up near the immigration desks and 32 doctors and eight nurses have been deployed for the check-ups at the counters, a senior health official said on Wednesday. Special access passes have been given to health workers for entry into airports.
A 26-year-old teacher became the first swine flu casualty in Bengaluru while five persons, including an AIDS patient, succumbed to the disease in worst-hit Pune on Thursday, taking the nationwide death toll to 23 even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said panic should not be created and government is doing its best.
A 17-year-old soccer player from Shillong who returned from England last week, has been detected to be suffering from H1N1 virus infection, according to test report received by Shillong Civil Hospital authority from a Kolkata lab, on Tuesday.
"This incident is really unfortunate. I feel there was total negligence on part of those who admitted her to the hospital and negligence on part of the hospital," the chief minister, who discussed the issue with senior health officials in Mumbai on Monday night, said.
Four Indian fencers tested positive for swine flu on their return from the Asian Junior and Cadet Championship in Singapore but are set to be discharged from hospital by Monday after getting treatment.
With the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases getting registered in Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh government has sounded a health alert across the state and directed the authorities to further intensify the screenings of all the inbound passengers at the Hyderabad International Airport.
Samples of 20 suspected cases of swine flu were found to be negative while results of three persons are awaited, even as the government on Wednesday issued an advisory warning against indiscriminate use of the medicine Tamiflu, which is the only drug to cure the disease.
South Africa faces a possible health crisis if a swine flu outbreak strikes during the soccer World Cup this year, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told parliament on Monday.
As many as 117 cases of swine flu were reported from across the country on Friday taking the total number of those afflicted by the viral disease to 1,390.Of the new cases, Mumbai reported the highest of 29 cases, followed by Delhi and Hyderabad at 13 each, Gujarat 10 Bangalore 9 and Kolkata 6.
As the number of swine flu deaths in the country touched 10, the Centre on Tuesday asked state governments to gear up their act to face the threat of the virus and dispatched Central teams to all states and Union Territories to help them coordinate the preparedness.
The swine flu death toll in the country has risen to 10 with the death of a seven-year-old girl in Vadodara. Earlier, a woman in Maharashtra succumbed to the dreaded virus.
Google India closed its Hyderabad centre on Wednesday after one of its employees tested positive for the H1N1 (swine flu) virus strain. The effort was to ensure that other employees do not contract the virus.
In first confirmed cases of swine flu in Kerala, three persons, two of them women, tested positive for the A (H1N1) virus on Sunday. Of these, a 53-year-old woman and her 24-year-old son had arrived at the Nedumbassery Airport in Kochi on June 24 from Britain while another woman reached Karippur Airport in Kozhikode from Dubai the same day.
Swine flu has claimed the lives of 15 more persons in the last two days as the death toll climbed to 2,123 while the number of affected persons in the country inched towards the 35,000 mark.
A string of sports events were left feeling the shivers on Wednesday as the spectre of swine flu continued to spread fears globally, sparking a spate of cancellations and pull-outs. Motor racing, soccer, golf and elite-level diving were all impacted by the growing fears surrounding the H1N1 virus.
A toddler and two middle-aged persons have succumbed to swine flu in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, pushing the pandemic toll to 72, even as schools and colleges in Pune, shut due to the spurt in the infection, reopened on Monday after nearly two weeks. Over 100 more fresh cases of flu infection were reported from various states on Sunday, Union Health Ministry officials said in Delhi.
The World Health Organisation is urging people around the world to brace themselves for a second wave of the swine flu pandemic as the heavily populated northern hemisphere edges towards the cooler season when flu thrives. WHO Director General Margaret Chan warned on Friday that there had been instances of second and third waves when pandemics had struck earlier."We cannot say for certain whether the worst is over or the worst is yet to come," Chan said.
The BJP requested Rahul Gandhi to admit Hariprasad to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bengaluru for treatment.
The government said the mortality rate due to H1N1 virus has fallen to 10 per cent this year.
If you thought that a simple surgical mask will protect you from being infected by swine flu virus, you were wrong.
Delhi is experiencing a significant surge in H1N1 (swine flu) cases, with over 1,777 infections reported this year, a six-fold increase from last year. Doctors highlight that children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses are most susceptible to severe infection. The rise has prompted increased inquiries about seasonal influenza vaccination, and medical experts are cautioning against self-medication and delayed consultation, urging early medical attention for severe symptoms.
A 59-year-old man undergoing treatment for swine-flu at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi has died, in what is believed to be the first death from H1N1 influenza in the national capital this season.
Swine flu claimed yet another life in Kashmir valley bringing the toll to four since December last, according to sources in the state's premier Institute of Medical Sciences.
Swine flu claimed 344 lives this year even though the pandemic has subsided in the country, Union Health Ministry told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The virus continued to spread its tentacles to new states, including Mizoram.
Doctors at the government hospital in Ahmedabad informed that Modi had been administered a dose of Tamiflu.
Detection of about 12 Swine flu cases in the last fortnight has put the health authorities In Pune on an alert, as two patients are reported to be in a critical condition.
Sonam Kapoor is likely to be admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute in Mumbai for treatment. Haresh Pandya reports from Rajkot.
A 48-year-old man succumbed to swine flu at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara on Sunday morning, pushing the total number of H1N1 deaths in Gujarat to six. Hasmukh Hingu was admitted to the government-run hospital on August 20 with respiratory distress syndrome and had been in a critical stage since then. Hingu tested positive for swine flu on Saturday. With this, the nation-wide toll due to the H1N1 pandemic has risen to 64, hospital authorities said.
If you have shot photographs like these of masked residents in these times of swine flu or taken any other newsworthy pictures, please do mail them to newsdesk@rediff.co.in We will be happy to publish them.
Apollo, a major corporate hospital, turned away swine flu patients but later said it would try to create separate isolation wards outside their existing facilities to treat those afflicted by the disease.
List of govt hospitals authorised to treat swine flu
With spiralling cases of swine flu countrywide, southern states have put their health machinery on a heightened alert with Karnataka planning to screen one crore students for the virus under its free health check-up scheme and Tamil Nadu ordering passengers be checked at railway stations.
Toll so far this year has reached 485, which is more than double of 2014.
The Swine flu scare has hit the World Badminton Championships and a Malaysian coach has been admitted to a local government hospital in Hyderabad after showing symptoms of the deadly disease. His identity is not yet known as the Malaysians have separate coaches for singles and doubles.
A three-year-old boy, who arrived in Chennai from Colombo on Thursday morning, was referred to a government hospital after he showed symptoms of swine flu.Officials said the boy, who had arrived along with his family of seven, was found to be suffering from cold and fever. He was immediately referred to the Communicable Diseases Hospital at Tondiarpet in Chennai.
36 more deaths drove the swine flu toll past the 1700-mark while the total number of people suffering from the contagious disease reached close to 30,000 in the country this season.
Eight persons including a 10-month-old baby have died of swine flu in Pune in the last two days, taking the toll due to the viral infection in the city to 331 since August last year, health officials said on Thursday.Pune civic medical officer R Pardeshi said the transmission rate of the infection had been showing an upward trend in the last few days. People needed to take proper precautions to prevent and treat the disease, he said.
One more person has succumbed to swine flu in Hyderabad, taking the total number of deaths due to the disease this year in Telangana to 8.
