Swine flu deaths spread to TN, toll now 6,Centre battles virus

Chennai/New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Swine flu deaths spread
beyond the western region claiming the life of a four-year-old
boy in Chennai--one of the two victims on Monday-- raising the
toll to six, as the Centre shifted gears to battle the virus.

The Centre unveiled fresh initiatives to contain the
spread of the deadly H1N1 virus like allowing private labs to
conduct swine flu tests if they followed its guidelines
and installation of thermal scanners at all international
airports in the country to detect afflicted persons.

"The number of swine flu cases are rising. We have to work
a little harder," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told
reporters in New Delhi, as people flocked to hospitals for
swine flu tests. Government will also stockpile another two
crore capsules of Tamiflu drug, he said.

Azad also said he did not favour closure of schools but
left it to the state governments and schools concerned to take
a call. Airport screenings will also not stop, he added.

Azad, who has been directed by Prime Minister of India
Manmohan Singh to take urgent steps to check the spread of the
virus, said swine flu cases has risen to 864.

In Chennai, B Sanjay, an asthmatic admitted to a private
hospital with kidney and liver-related complications and had
tested positive for swine flu, died on Monday morning in the
first H1N1 fatality in Tamil Nadu. health officials said. His
11-year-old brother has also tested positive for the disease.

Pune, which is emerging as the epicentre of swine flu
infection, recorded the third death when an Ayurvedic
practioner Babasahib Mane died in the Sassoon Hospital.

Grappling with rising swine flu cases, Maharashtra
Government ordered closure of schools and colleges for a week
in worst-affected Pune while theatres and multiplexes will
remain shut for three days. Mumbai and Ahmedabad accounted for
one death each.

"The boy(Sanjay) was in a very critical condition. He had
been suffering from asthma and he had been taken from one
hospital to another for various complications. Ultimately he
landed up in this hospital for a kidney-related problem...and
they found the boy testing positive (for swine flu)," Tamil
Nadu Health Secretary V K Subburaj said.

The boy, who was on a ventilator, died following "multi-
organ failure," S Ilango, Director of Public Health, said.

Subbaraj told PTI the state government was "fully geared
up to tackle" the situation. Test kits required at the Kings
Institute at Guindy, the only authorised centre in Tamil
Nadu for swab tests for swine flu, have been stocked there
after being "diverted" from veterinary hospitals, he said.

Mane(35) was ailing for sometime and blood had been found
in his sputum in the last couple of days, a doctor at Sassoon
hospital said.

Azad discussed with Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar
the situation arising out of spread of the viral disease and
measures to contain it. The meeting in New Delhi was also
attended by Health Secretary Naresh Dayal.

In Pune, District Guardian minister Ajit Pawar said, "All
schools, colleges and private coaching classes in Pune and
neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad would remain closed for seven
days."

"We will compensate for it by reducing Diwali holidays
by a week," he said.

Schools and colleges should use this period to get
their premises disinfected and sterilised, Pawar said.

The minister said theatres and multiplexes in the city
will also remain shut for three days. PTI TEAM
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