13-year-old Pune schoolgirl becomes eighth swine flu victim

Pune, Aug. 11 (ANI): A 13-year-old schoolgirl died of swine flu on Tuesday at the Sasoon General Hospital in Pune, taking the all India swine flu death toll to eight.

Shruti Gawade, a student of the Ahilyadevi School, was the fifth Pune victim of the deadly swine flu virus in Pune.

According to Dr Pandurang Pawar, Medical Superintendent of the Sassoon General Hospital, Shruti succumbed to the virus at around 1.30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Shruti, a resident of Pune's Narayan Peth area, had tested positive last Saturday.

She was admitted to the Sassoon General Hospital on Sunday in critical condition.

The girl had been kept on ventilator since August 7 when she was brought here after being referred from a private hospital in critical condition.

Her death in the Sassoon General Hospital came barely hours after a 35-year-old chemist Sanjay Tilekar died here last night.

On Monday, a 35-year-old ayurvedic doctor and a four-year-old boy had also died of swine flu in Pune and Chennai respectively.

So far, a total of 333 people have been affected by the virus in Maharashtra.

In a bid to contain the deadly virus, the Government of Maharashtra has ordered the closure of all educational institutions and shopping malls for a week, while cinema theatres will remain closed for three days.

Even as the swine flu epidemic continues to spread havoc in the country, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has insisted that the situation is still under control and the toll is far less when compared with other affected countries.

A high-level meeting was called earlier on Monday to assess the situation that was attended by the Heath Minister himself along with Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, besides a team of medical experts. (ANI)