India's swine flu toll passes 100

Sep 1, 2009, 9:16 GMT

   New Delhi - India's federal Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called a high-level meeting Tuesday to assess the rapidly spreading H1N1 flu virus, as the country's death toll passed 100.

   Seven deaths were reported from the states of Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra on Monday, taking the toll to 100, a Health Ministry statement said.

   India reported its first swine flu death on August 3. The first human infection was reported in May.

   So far, India has reported 3,987 confirmed cases of the disease.

   The western state of Maharashtra continued to lead in both number of cases and deaths, followed by national capital Delhi.

   The city most affected was Pune in Maharashtra, about 120 kilometres south-east of financial hub Mumbai, with 31 reported deaths and temporarily closed schools and colleges.

The federal government recently allowed selected private laboratories to undertake tests to confirm swine flu cases as people crowded the state-run facilities.

   The government has asked private hospitals to run isolation wards to treat seriously ill swine flu patients.

   India has a population of over 1.1 billion and Azad warned that the country should be prepared for a large-scale flu pandemic.