Swine flu kills nine more; toll at 2,044

Swine flu claimed the lives of nine more persons even as the number of people affected by the H1N1 virus across the country inched towards the 34,000-mark.
The Union Health Ministry said that 2,044 persons have died of the disease while the number of affected persons has touched 33,877 as on March 29.
The ministry said that the toll has increased to 430 in Gujarat, the state worst-hit by the H1N1 virus. A total of 6,507 cases of swine flu have been reported in Gujarat since January.
In Rajasthan, the disease has claimed 417 lives while the number of affected persons was 6,566.

The toll in Maharashtra inched towards the 400-mark with 397 swine flu fatalities recorded so far in the state, which has seen 4,481 persons come down with the disease.
A total of 299 swine flu deaths have been registered in Madhya Pradesh where 2,187 people have been affected.

Karnataka has recorded 82 swine flu deaths with the number of those affected in the state standing at 2,770.
Telangana has seen 76 persons succumb to the H1N1 virus while in the two neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, the toll was 53 and 51, respectively.
Eighteen persons have died of the disease in Jammu and Kashmir while Uttarakhand has reported 12 casualties.

The toll in West Bengal has risen to 25 after the death of another person. In Uttar Pradesh, 38 persons have died of swine flu.
In Delhi, 12 people have died of the disease while the number of those affected is 4,230. The toll in Kerala has risen to 14.
Andhra Pradesh has registered 22 swine flu deaths while an equal number of people have died in Chhattisgarh. Twenty-one lives have been claimed by the disease in Himachal Pradesh.