Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi,
Swine flu is back with more and more hospitals across the national capital and other states reporting cases of the infection.Government figures show that so far, since January last, there have been 902 laboratory confirmed cases of the fatal respiratory infection and 216 reported deaths of which 34 are from Punjab. None of the other states (Haryana, Himachal, J&K, Uttarakhand or Chandigarh) in the region have so far recorded any swine flu death, though Haryana has reported five confirmed cases of the infection.The government today said it was monitoring the situation and had all preparatory measures in place to counter the challenge. The Ministry has asked its emergency response team to keep a watch on infections and mortality trends with experts saying the burden of death due to the infection is expected to rise until February. Winter months are favourable for the virus.Since the global outbreak of swine flu in 2009, the infection has been returning routinely to infect people across states in the country. This year, Gujarat has seen the maximum deaths at 55 as against 156 confirmed cases. The highest number of infections (300) has been reported from Karnataka which has seen 33 deaths. Delhi has recorded 32 cases with one death last week.The rate of infection and deaths due to swine flu is, however, on the decline but doctors say there is no reason to be complacent. They said people should report flu symptoms to their nearest doctors and get tested to rule out H1N1. The rate of infection has been, meanwhile, steadily declining from 2011 onwards. In 2011, the country saw 603 cases and 75 deaths followed by 5,044 cases and 405 deaths in 2012. There were 5,253 cases, the maximum so far, in 2013 and 699 deaths.
