Swine flu toll rises to 19

An eleven-month-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died of swine flu in Pune today, taking the toll in the country to 19.

The boy, Rutwik Kamle was admitted first to a private hospital and then shifted to government-run Sassoon Hospital last evening in a serious condition, official sources said. He died early morning.

Bharti Goyal, who was suffering from the viral infection, died in KEM Hospital here, they said. With this, the number of flu deaths in Pune has risen to 12 and across the country to 19. Besides the Pune deaths, one person each has succumbed to the virus in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Nashik, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram and two in Mumbai.

Ten people last night tested positive for swine flu in Gujarat, taking the total number of those afflicted by the disease countrywide to 1,203.

While Pune remained the worst-hit area by the disease with 61 new cases being reported from the city, Gujarat's 10 new cases took the number of those infected to 27 in the state.

"All test results that were pending have come and according to them, 10 more people, including three women, have tested positive for swine flu," Gujarat principal secretary Health Ravi Saxena said.