13 swine flu deaths take India's toll to 277

Thirteen swine flu deaths, including five in Andhra Pradesh, took the toll in the country Thursday due to Influenza A (H1N1) to 277, health officials said here.

Meanwhile, as many as 283 fresh swine flu cases were recorded in the country, taking the total number of positive cases to 8,979.

Four deaths were reported from Maharashtra - Pune, Nashik, Mumbai and Nagpur -- while three deaths occurred in Karnataka - two in Bangalore and one in Updupi.

Two deaths were reported from Hyderabad Thursday. Three deaths had occurred earlier in Andhra Pradesh, but the laboratory reports came in Thursday. One death took place in Uttarakhand, taking the state's toll to two.

So far, 28 people have died in Andhra Pradesh since the outbreak of the flu in the country in May 16.

In Maharashtra, which tops the chart for the maximum number of deaths and cases in the country, as many as 112 people have succumbed to the contagious virus and 2,574 have been affected.

Karnataka's toll has reached 85 - the second highest in the country.

The senior wing of Delhi Public School (DPS) at Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, was closed Thursday after two students tested positive for the influenza.

Two days back, the school had closed its junior wing following two children being detected with the virus.

The school will remain closed till Sep 28.

'Four students have been reported infected. We have closed down as a precautionary measure. All infected students are from the primary section. All these students are under treatment and belong to Mayur Vihar, Preet Vihar, Vikas Marg and Vishwas Nagar area of Shahdara,' school principal Meeta Rai said.

'We have undertaken every possible measure to deal with the situation,' she added. The school has around 5,300 students from Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad.

The national capital Thursday reported 113 fresh cases of swine flu with the majority of them being children, Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said.

'Of the 113 swine flu cases, 65 are children and all of them have been quarantined,' she said.

Walia said that till Thursday, 2,275 cases were admitted and treated in designated government hospitals and of these 90 percent have been discharged. Delhi has so far reported nine swine flu deaths.

'The situation is under control and the government is doing its best in providing treatment to H1N1 patients. I advise people to visit the doctor at the earliest if any symptom of swine flu appears,' she said.

As the H1N1 virus continued to spread, Delhi Mayor Kanwar Sain said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) would evaluate its response to checking the swine flu outbreak in the capital.

'Swine flu, other than causing loss of human lives, should give us reason to sit down and evaluate the efficacy and style of our responses,' Sain said as he addressed a convention organised by Health Essayists and Authors League (HEAL) here.

Fresh cases were also reported from Andhra Pradesh (43), Karnataka (22), Tamil Nadu (34), Maharashtra (35), Haryana (25) and Gujarat (2).