Swine flu becoming pandemic, claims 743 lives

New Delhi, Feb 20: The number of deaths due to swine flu reached 743 Friday, with 40 more people succumbing to the disease across India.

The number of cases rose from 11,071 Thursday to 11,955 Friday, a health ministry official said.

A team of experts from the health ministry was visiting Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to extend technical support to these states.

The ministry has asked states to study the patterns in mortality such as which areas, age groups and section of people have been most affected.

The government Thursday held a high-level meeting to review the situation in order to address issues like shortage of drugs.

The meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) was attended by chief secretaries and medical heads of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

The cabinet secretary stressed that the states should ensure that the outbreak monitoring cells and necessary helplines function round the clock.

Rajasthan has reported 202 deaths, Telangana 49, Gujarat 155, while 50 people have died due to swine flu in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The total number of swine flu cases in the national capital has reached 1,917.

IANS