The Hindu : Front Page : 14 new swine flu cases in Delhi

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Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009
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14 new swine flu cases in Delhi

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Fourteen new cases of swine flu were reported in the Capital on Monday. Six of the 14 patients have a foreign travel history and include five children ranging in age from four years to 16 years. The other eight are cases of indigenous transmission and include three children aged five years to 17 years.

The six cases with travel history that tested positive for HINI influenza on Monday included an eight-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl who had returned from Singapore and an eight-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy just back from the U.S. In addition, a 14-year-old boy who returned from Britain also tested positive.

For management of swine flu cases, Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia released the Union Health Ministry guidelines for home quarantine for H1N1 patients and those who have come in contact with infected persons and also for schools, colleges and institutions. The guidelines ordain that each person who has been home quarantined will be provided with three layered masks in sufficient quantities by the Government free of cost so that people coming into contact with them at home are protected.

In addition, the guidelines state that given the current magnitude of the spread of H1N1 infection and the fact that the virus is fairly mild so far, closure of educational institutions on account of any student or staff member falling ill with flu-like symptoms is not recommended.

However, after Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri and Delhi Public School in East of Kailash announced that they would remain shut for a week, another Delhi school, Junior Modern School on Humayun Road, also announced closure for a week after two of its students tested positive for swine flu on Monday.

“After 14 new cases on Monday, the total tally of confirmed cases so far has reached 242. Of these, about 180 have been treated and discharged ,while 44 are currently under home quarantine and 18 are admitted in various government hospitals in the city. So the numbers suggest that there is a shift towards home quarantine treatment compared to hospital treatment,” said Health Minister Kiran Walia.

“Thus now is the time for the citizens to co-operate with the Government and manage the care of swine flu patients at home by themselves with the help of guidelines issued by us. How the home quarantine is conducted is very important and has to be monitored by us,” she added.

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