By IANS,
Mumbai/Pune: A senior civil servant was among the 13 new patients of influenza A (H1N1) in Maharashtra taking the total number of the infected people in the state to 172, authorities said Thursday.
“Nine new cases have been detected in Pune and four in Mumbai, including a senior state civil servant (till Thursday morning),” Pradeep Awate, head of the Swine Flu Control Room, told IANS.
Among the victims who tested positive is State Excise Commissioner I.S. Chahal, he said.
Chahal, who recently returned from a trip to Britain, complained of swine-flu type symptoms and tested positive at the Kasturba Hospital late Wednesday night.
In Pune, two girls from St. Annes High School – where the first fatal victim of swine flu Reeda Shaikh studied – have tested positive, while another girl has been quarantined in the Naidu Hospital for suspected H1N1, Awate added.
Reeda died Monday, triggering panic in Pune where hundreds of people rushed to government hospitals for precautionary check-ups.
According to authorities at the Naidu Hospital in Pune, nearly 800 patients went for swine flu screening Thursday. Around 1,000 people – young and old – had rushed to the hospital leading chaos in the hospital Wednesday.
“Around 800 people, most of them voluntary patients, visited our hospital Thursday. We have started four round-the-clock OPDs to tackle the rush,” said Sanjay Wahleker, an official with the hospital’s swine flu help line.
“We are now better equipped to handle the rush. The situation was much better today in our hospital,” Walheker told IANS.
Of the 172 cases in the state, Pune has 118, Mumbai 26, Panchgani 25, Thane two and Nashik one. In Pune, at least 80 patients are school students.
Satara Collector Vikas Deshmukh toured some of the affected schools in Panchgani Wednesday and then said that the situation in the hill-station was under control.
“We have already combed all the 46 schools, including the 16 residential public schools for suspected cases. In the main affected school, St. Peters High School, a special quarantine room has been set up, and similar rooms are ready in other schools,” Deshmukh told IANS after his fourth inspection in the past 10 days.