Swine flu claims 118 lives in state so far

With the death of seven persons in various districts in the state today, swine flu has claimed 118 lives in Gujarat since the onset of winter, a senior health official said.
"633 persons in the state have been infected by the deadly H1N1 virus, of whom 371 have been cured, while 88 persons are undergoing treatment in government hospitals and 56 in private health institutions," Dinkar Raval, deputy director (epidemics) and state nodal officer for swine flu, said.
Two persons succumbed to the virus today in Rajkot and Bhavnagar district each, while one person died in Banaskantha, Bhuj and Jamnagar district each, Raval said.

Meanwhile, a four-member team from the Centre visited Civil Hospital here, Medical College in Rajkot and Jamnagar Civil Hospital and expressed satisfaction at the treatment offered to patients, testing facilities in laboratories and disease-prevention measures undertaken by the state health department.
Dr Jagvir Singh, Additional Director and National Project Officer (NPO) of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi; Dr Yogesh Gaurav, scientist at National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune; Dr P C Yug, Chief Medical Officer of Medicine Department, Dr RML Hospital in Delhi; and Dr Vijaita Maurya, microbiologist, IDSP, NCDC in Delhi visited the hospitals, met the state health officials and reviewed the situation in the state.