Swine flu toll rises to 98

Five more persons, including two pregnant women, one each in Pune and Ahmedabad, died of swine flu on Saturday, taking the countrywide toll in the pandemic to 98, even as 218 fresh cases were detected across the country.

Besides the two women, three others including a youth in Pune and two women in Karanataka, succumbed to the virus. While Roopali Jore, 28, died on Friday night at a private hospital in Pune where she was kept on a ventilator, Sunil Kumbhar, 20, died at Sassoon hospital today evening, health officials said.

Kumbhar had been admitted in a critical condition, with symptoms of H1N1 virus, at the government hospital today morning, they said. Meanwhile, two more persons, including a nine-year-old girl, have succumbed to the deadly virus in Karnataka, pushing up the pandemic toll in the southern state to 26.

Close on the heels of a three-year old boy dying of the virus in Bijapur, a nine-year-old girl fell victim to the H1N1 influenza at Manipal Hospital here on August 26, health officials said.

The other victim, a 30-year-old woman, succumbed to the virus at Bapuji Hospital in Davangere on August 27. Vaishali Kalal, 23, died of the virus at a private hospital in Ahmedabad today morning, taking the toll in the state to eight. Kalal was on ventilator since Friday, health officials said.