Death toll mounts to 17

Swine flu today claimed five more lives, four of them in worst-hit Pune alone, taking the countrywide toll to 17, even as authorities in Mumbai shut down schools and colleges for a week and cinema halls for three days to check the spread of the virus.

Two women and two men succumbed to the viral infection at government-run Sassoon hospital in Pune, official sources said. Pune now accounts for 10 deaths and Maharashtra 13.

The victims were Shrawani Deshpande (29), Nita Meghani (50), Babu Kuland (15) and Gautham Shalar (48), they said. The Pune city alone now has more than 300 positive cases of swine flu.

Nashik registered its first flu death when 28-year-old doctor Rakesh Gargunde died of the viral infection at the Nashik civil hospital this morning. He was admitted to a private hospital on Monday after he complained of vomiting and fever.

Besides the deaths in Pune, one person each has succumbed to the flu virus in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Nashik, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram and two in Mumbai. With the infection spreading fast, the Maharashtra government ordered closure of schools and colleges in Mumbai for a week and theatres and multiplexes for three days.

The decision was taken as part of precautionary measures to check the infection, a senior state government official said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena and NCP appealed to people to observe ‘dahi-handi’ programmes on the occasion of Janamasthami on a low key to check the virus from spreading.