Pune reported five deaths due to swine flu in the last 24 hours taking the total death toll in the city to 10 fatalities. With these five fatalities, the countrywide death toll has touched 17.
Terming the situation as alarming? district collector Chandrakant Dalvi said the administration was taking maximum measures to handle the situation and fight it out. The administration however, is yet to take a decision on declaring a total shutdown in the city in the wake of panic causes by the H1N1 virus. The virus has now spread to the outskirts beyond the city limits.
?We are taking Level 6 measures to fight the disease,? Dalvi said. We have instructed screening centers and hospitals to begin treatment without waiting for reports to come from NIV(National Institute of Virology). There are adequate stocks of Tami Flu in the district, Dalvi claimed. He advised people to approach the nearest centre and get themselves treated at the earliest. Category C patients with symptoms of fever and cold would be treated at the local level itself.
NIV has been directed to increase its capacity and conduct 400 tests on a daily basis. The Haffekine Institute tests around 40 samples daily and has been directed to increase this to 150 samples per day, Dalvi said. This would mean that around 550 samples could be tested on a daily basis. In the last 24 hours, 350 suspected cases have emerged on whom treatment has begun and Tami Flu has been administered.
The administration has increased the number of screening centers from 28 to 36. Along with the 3 existing hospitals this would mean that 42 places could treat H1N1 patients now. According to NIV reports, 29 fresh H1N1 positive cases have been detected. This takes the total number of cases in Pune to 323.