Swine flu cases on the rise, govt monitors situation

After 132 deaths and 708 cases of swine flu reported across the country during the current year, government said it was monitoring the situation, which is "well under control".

The worst affected state was Rajasthan, accounting for 65 deaths and reporting as many as 326 cases, followed by Haryana with 23 deaths and 78 cases of H1N1 infection during the period January 1 to February 6 this year.

Punjab has reported a total of 16 deaths and 90 cases of swine flu, while Gujarat has reported 16 deaths and 58 cases in less than seven weeks of the current year.

A total of 3,315 lives have been lost due to the virus so far since May 2009, with a total number of 53,943 cases reported from across the country till January 27.

The government also said that since the virus is circulating within the country, there is no need to impose any travel restriction or screening at inter-state point of entry, railway stations.

"World Health Organisation while declaring the Pandemic to be over in August 2010, conveyed that the influenza H1N1 pandemic virus would take on the behaviour of seasonal influenza virus and continue to circulate for some years. Hence, in the post-pandemic period, localised outbreaks of varying magnitude with significant level of H1N1 transmission are expected," a health ministry statement said.

The ministry said cases are being reported presently from states of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab and said small pockets of population that remained unexposed to the pandemic and were susceptible would be affected.

Delhi has reported 57 laboratory confirmed cases of Influenza A H1N1 since January 1, 2013 of which three have died (as on February 7).

A total of 153 lives have been lost in the national capital since May 2009 due to the Influenza A virus, with a total of 11,294 cases reported so far.

In Delhi, 22 hospitals (17 government and 5 private) and 8 laboratories (3 government and 5 private) have been activated and this includes central government institutions like RMLHospital, SafdarjungHospital and laboratories of NCDC and AIIMS.