Swine flu cases rise to 4,073, warm weather may offer respite

NUMBERS THAT COUNT

NEW DELHI: With 24 fresh cases reported from the capital on Tuesday, the number of swine flu cases has increased to 4,073 so far this year.

The government had tested 221 people for the influenza A H1N1 infection, out of which 24 tested positive on March 17.

With the weather clearing out slowly, the number of cases is gradually coming down. Experts believe that with the rising mercury, the disease will eventually die out on its own in the coming days.

In the last swine flu report released on March 16, 51 cases were reported positive out of 241 people who were tested for the infection.

The national capital has seen 11 deaths due to swine flu so far this year. According to the experts in the state health department, the low deaths is due to high awareness levels among people.

“Not only does Delhi-NCR had less number of people dying, most of these deaths have been due to underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma etc,” said a senior health official of the directorate of health services.

Health experts claim there was no need to get vaccinated now.

“Vaccination at this point is pointless and the efficacy of a vaccine is never 100%,” said Dr Ekta Gupta, additional professor, department of microbiology, from the Delhi government-run Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).

The country has reported 30,366 total cases of the airborne viral infection, of which 1,767 people have died so far this year, shows government data.

The government has said that the swine flu virus would continue to circulate in the atmosphere.

However, no mutation was likely, which implies the virus is not expected to get any more virulent. 104 NEW DELHI: Amid talk of scrapping the BRT corridor, the Delhi Traffic Police told the Lieutenant Governor’s office that the project might be flawed but the plan is certainly not a failure.

The traffic police was asked to submit a report on the feasibility of the project.

“The fundamental premise of BRT is to prioritise the passage for buses. However, if you place the corridor across an area where the dependence on private vehicles is more, it is certain that it will fall flat. Instead of cutting into a car country, the project should be moved to areas where there is limited frequency of buses,” said Anil Shukla, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

The report has identified the BRT corridor — where about 1.35 lakh vehicles pass everyday — to be among the most dangerous stretches for pedestrians. The distance between the stations and sidewalks and accessibility Cost of the project per day average

to zebra crossings make venturing around the corridor quite a dangerous.

The department had asked the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System (DIMTS) for the charge for operating the traffic signals that are not coordinated at many points, the report read.

The department said the project was likely to show results if it was placed at the transYamuna stretch where areas are not well connected with buses.

Another problem that was identified was the connectivity of the 3.4-kilometre operational corridor, running from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand. The lanes for the corridors were set for 5.2 kilometres. The plan was to extend the corridor to Delhi Gate.

“The corridor connects nowhere to nowhere. If you drop a passenger who wants to go to Nehru Place or Connaught Place, at Moolchand then he would rather take out his own vehicle than depend on public transport. The idea behind the BRT should be to encourage people to use public transport,” he said.