By IANS,
New Delhi: Twenty-three new cases of swine flu were reported from across India Wednesday, including a Malaysian student, as the infectious virus spread to small cities and took the total number of people infected with the disease to 597.
According to the health ministry, “22 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported today: Delhi (5), Gurgaon (3), Mumbai (4) Pune (3), Bangalore (1), Hyderabad (1), Kolkata (1), Mangalore (1), Jamshedpur (1), Chennai (1), Hoshiarpur (1) and Gurdaspur (1).
“Of the 596 positive cases, 482 have been discharged. One case has died. Rest of them remain admitted to the identified health facility,” the ministry said.
The one life the virus has claimed in India was Rida Shaikh, 14-year-old schoolgirl who died in Pune Monday.
The ministry noted that though many people opted for the swine flu virus test, “testing will be done at the discretion of the doctors at the designated government hospitals. There is no shortage of testing materials and adequate care has been taken to ensure future supplies of testing materials.”
In Delhi, of the five new cases four have contracted the disease without any travel history. The fifth is a 19-year-old girl who travelled from Singapore. In three cases in Gurgaon, two are school contacts and the third is a 31-year-old woman who travelled from Bangkok and was found to be symptomatic at the airport screening at Delhi.
The case in Mangalore is a 21-year-old Malaysian female student who travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Bangalore and then traveled further to Mangalore. She developed symptoms on Aug 2 and was admitted at an identified health facility.
In Punjab two cases were reported, one each in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. The two men, agend 30 and 29, travelled from Barcelona. Though Gurdaspur had reported a case earlier, the virus was detected in Hoshiarpur for the first time.
Of the three cases in Pune that is witnessing a panic-like situation after Monday’s death, two are children below the age of 14. The third case is a 52-year-old woman who travelled from Manila to Delhi and then to Pune July 29.
Hundreds of people thronged the swine-flu testing centre for a check-up as authorities struggled to manage the situation inPune.
Serpentine queues of people wearing handgloves and sergical masks were seen outside the Naidu Hospital. A scuffle broke out in the crowd as people jostled to get themselves checked by doctors to prevent the disease.
Four new cases were reported from Mumbai – a 17-year-old boy who travelled from Germany, a 20-year-old man who reached Mumbai from Hungary via Turkey, a 43-year-old man who came from Britain and the fourth patient had travelled from Singapore.
The case in Bangalore is a 32-year-old man who travelled from the US via Dubai. The case from Hyderabad is a 13-year-old girl who is a contact of a previously reported positive case. The case in Kolkata travelled from Singapore by Singapore Airlines.
The case in Jamshedpur is a 21-year-old man who travelled from Britain via Mumbai. The solitary case from Chennai is a two-year-old boy who had travelled from Australia via Singapore.