Swine flu claims 2 lives in Assam; 10 tested positive

The Assam government today said 12 persons have been detected with swine flu in the state so far, and of them two have died.
"We have detected 12 cases of swine flu across the state. Out of them, two have died. The rest 10 persons are doing fine now," Assam Health and Family Welfare Minister Nazrul Islam said here.
He said four persons have been detected with swine flu in Jorhat and Dibrugarh each, three in Guwahati and one in Tezpur. The infected people include two Army personnel from Dibrugarh and Tezpur.
The death toll due to the virus have reached to four, with two deaths occurring in Jorhat district.

"Of the 12 persons, seven had travel history and five are affected locally," he added.
The minister said the government will undertake aggressive awareness campaign for asking people not to panic.

He said the state government is alert in dealing with swine flu cases and have prepared isolation wards in every district hospitals across the state, besides ICU units in medical college hospitals.
"We have enough medicines to deal with the situation. For transportation of the patients, all district hospitals have been provided with one ambulance each," Islam said.
The minister said the Union government has classified the outbreak of swine flu in three categories -- A, B and C.

While patients of A and B categories do not need hospitalisation, the C category requires urgent institutional medical attention, he added.
Islam said the government will soon start vaccination drive across the state for Japanese encephalitis.