Indian city shuts schools, colleges as swine flu spreads

Aug 10, 2009, 12:55 GMT

   New Delhi - The local government closed down all schools and colleges in Pune city of western Maharashtra state as more people tested positive for H1N1 virus and a second death occurred Monday.

   A total of six people have died of the virus in India so far, three of them in Pune, located about 163 kilometres south-east of the state capital Mumbai.

   Schools, colleges and tutorial centres in Pune and its immediate area would be closed for a week while the administrations sterilize the premises, District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar said at a televised press briefing.

   Cinema halls would also be closed for three days, he said. People would be discouraged from going to malls and shopping centres in the city.

   Federal Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who hosted a meeting of top health officials in Delhi, said closing down schools was not a good idea but it was a decision of the regional governments.

   He said so far 864 cases of the H1N1 virus had been reported across the country. While 341 patients were being treated at hospitals, the rest had been discharged.