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| 322 swine flu cases reported in India: Health Minister |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Jul 22, 2009, 12:29 IST |
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As many as 322 swine flu cases have been reported in the country so far, with 234 of them being treated and discharged compared to 200 deaths reported in the US, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today.
"This proves that swine flu is 100 per cent curable in so far as our country is concerned. ... We are lucky that there have been no deaths in our country," he told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, noting that over 200 casualties were reported each in the US and Mexico, besides many more in the UK and Japan.
Of the 322 cases reported, 256 persons got infected abroad. "Of them, 111 cases came from the US, 32 from Australia, 15 from Thailand and some others from Canada, Germany and Singapore," he said.
Noting that almost 36 lakh passengers were screened for H1N1 virus at entry points like airports so far, Azad said this was almost 45,000 passengers a day for the past two and a half months.
While those found infected were being quarantined in one major hospital in each state, the number of labs to check the virus have been increased from two to 18 now, he said.
Azad said there was "no dearth of drugs" as ten million Tamiflu doses have already been distributed across the country and congratulated the teams of doctors and paramedics carrying out the screening or treatment of patients. "The virus in primarily coming from outside. Those found infected at the entry points were being immediately taken to isolation centres," the Minister said.
Azad said his Ministry has suggested the External Affairs Ministry to discuss with other countries methods to screen infected passengers at the point of origin itself, "but so far no step has been taken in that direction."
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