New Delhi: Government on Thursday said it was screening around 50,000 passengers coming from swine flu-affected countries even as it assured that there was no suspected case of the disease in the country as of now.
The official word comes even as a research arm of Moody's said that Swine flu scare has come in the way of India's efforts at economic recovery and some slackening sectors like tourism and trade may witness further slowdown.
"There is no suspected case of Swine flu in the country so far," Joint Secretary Ministry of Health, Vineet Chaudhary, however, told reporters in New Delhi.
The official clarification came in the wake of reports that a Hyderabad resident had come back from Mexico with flu like symptoms.
"The patient is not showing any symptoms now. In fact he had reported to a nearby health centre for check up after he developed flu like symptoms after coming back from Mexico," Chaudhary said.
Director, NICD, Shivlal said fresh samples have been taken from the Hyderabad resident and are being flown to Delhi and the results will be available in the next 24 to 48 hours. The Centre has also decided to increase its Tamiflu stock from one million to 10 million doses over the next seven days, he said, adding the stockpile would be decentralised all over the country so that any emergency situation can be dealt with quickly.
A total of 50,000 passengers who have come from countries affected by swine flu have been traced and checks would be carried out on them.
Chaudhary said 8 counters have been set up at the Delhi airport and each counter will be manned by one doctor and two nurses.
Meanwhile, economy.com, a research arm of Moody's has claimed that the Swine flu scare has come in the way of India's efforts at economic recovery.
The government finances, already under pressure after dolling out stimulus packages to spur slowing economy, will be strained further by the expenses to prevent deadly swine flu, said economy.com.
"Swine flu has put up a hurdle on India's path to economic recovery, Moody's said, adding, tourism and trade which already began (showing) signs of fatigue in December quarter may experience a further blow," it said.