100 swine flu cases surface in 23 days, Ludhiana worst hit

JALANDHAR: Swine flu continues to tighten its grip over the state with 100 new cases of influenza A (H1N1) being reported in last 23 days till Saturday, affecting a total of 204 people in Punjab this season.

This season, swine flu cases have already surpassed the previous year figure of 177 positive cases and 62 deaths.

Ludhiana is worst affected with 55 cases and 18 deaths so far.

Doctors are expecting a rise in these cases in coming days as people tend to get more prone to this virus in the months of October and November.

A total of 55 deaths have already been reported in 2017 across the state where Ludhiana leads with highest number of deaths at 18, followed by Jalandhar with six fatalities.

Out of the total 204 cases, Mohali is the second most affected with 43 positive cases, followed by Patiala with 22 cases. 18 confirmed cases in Jalandhar places the district at fourth position.

However, Jalandhar is leading with most swine flu cases recorded in the Doaba region, closely followed by Hoshiarpur with 14 confirmed cases and five deaths while only one positive case has been reported from Kapurthala and SBS Nagar each till Saturday.

In 2016, total 177 positive cases of H1N1 were reported. A year before that, there were 300 positive cases while 2014 recorded only 27 such cases.

The year , 2013, which saw the first swine flu case in India, Punjab had over 217 patients suffering from the flu.

Nodal officer of Punjab’s integrated disease surveillance programme, Dr Gagandeep Singh Grover, said that awareness drives were being organised continuously in the state and many areas have even witnessed a drop in swine flu cases as compared to the previous year.

Singh said that pregnant women, children under the age of five years and people above the age of 50 years were more prone catch swine flu, besides those having asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.

He advised people to not panic, take care of their eating habits and visit the nearest government hospital in case swine flu symptoms are observed.