Four more die of Swine flu, death toll 11, cases cross 1,000

Four more persons – one each in Pune, Vadodara, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram – died of swine flu on Tuesday increasing the toll to 11

Kerala recording the first fatality, as the highly contagious virus spread to new areas in Jammu and Meghalaya.

In Hyderabad, the World Badminton championship was hit by the swine flu scare with a Malaysian coach being quarantined in a hospital after showing influenza-like symptoms.

In worrying signs, swine flu cases crossed the 1,000 mark touching 1,078 with 119 fresh cases – the largest for a single day – reported today. Pune, the epicentre of H1N1 virus infection, accounted for a maximum of 62 cases.

A 35-year-old man identified as Wilson became the 11th victim tonight since India recorded the first fatality on August 3 when he succumbed to the virus at KIMS hospital. Wilson, a Gulf returnee who had recently travelled to Tamil Nadu, was admitted to the hospital six days back with high fever, doctors said.

As the Centre and the states intensified their battle against the infection, central teams were despatched to all states and Union Territories after Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired a meeting of 35 additional secretaries and joint secretaries drawn from various ministries who would fan out across the country. He also spoke to all Chief Ministers over the last 24 hours and told them to step up preparedness.

Nineteen private hospitals in Mumbai too stepped in to offer treatment and set up isolation wards with 150 to 200 beds to ease the burden on the government hospitals. Scores of schools across several cities were also shut.