Pune: Five more persons - two in Pune and one each in Vadodara, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram - died of swine flu on Tuesday increasing the toll to 12.
Swine flu claimed its sixth victim in Pune with the death of a patient in Sassoon hospital here on Tuesday night.
Sanjay Mistry, 35, was in a critical condition since yesterday and died on Tuesday, Sassoon hospital sources said.
Mistry was admitted to the Sassoon hospital on August 9 after he was referred by Niramay Private Hospital in Pimpari, they said.
With Mistry's death, the total toll in the country has mounted to 12.
Kerala recorded its first fatality on Tuesday, as the deadly virus spread to new areas in Jammu and Meghalaya.
Thirty-five-year-old Wilson Lucose from Thiruvananthapuram has become the 11th victim of swine flu in the country.
Wilson, a Gulf returnee who had recently travelled to Tamil Nadu, was admitted to the hospital six days back with high fever, doctors said.
As the Centre and the states intensified their battle against the infection, central teams were despatched to all states and Union Territories after Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired a meeting of 35 additional secretaries and joint secretaries drawn from various ministries who would fan out across the country. He also spoke to all Chief Ministers over the last 24 hours and told them to step up preparedness.
Nineteen private hospitals in Mumbai too stepped in to offer treatment and set up isolation wards with 150 to 200 beds to ease the burden on the government hospitals. Scores of schools across several cities were also shut.
In Hyderabad, the World Badminton Championship was hit by the swine flu scare with a Malaysian coach being quarantined in a hospital after showing influenza-like symptoms.
In worrying signs, swine flu cases crossed the 1,000 mark touching 1,078 with 119 fresh cases - the largest for a single today - reported on Tuesday. Pune, the epicentre of H1N1 virus infection, accounted for a maximum of 62 cases.
Earlier on Tuesday, swine flu claimed two lives. A 62-year-old woman, Saeeda, died at the Noor Hospital in Byculla, Mumbai, and a seven-year-old girl died in Vadodara.
Saeeda was from Mumbra, a suburb close to Thane. She had H1N1 with several other complications. This is the second swine flu death in Mumbai and the sixth in Maharashtra.
The Vadodara girl is the 10th victim of swine flu in the country. She was admitted to the SSG Hospital on August 4. She was shifted there from a private hospital where she had been examined the same day. The hospital advised her to go to a government hospital immediately.
Five H1N1 deaths on Tuesday
- Pune: 35-year-old Sanjay Mistry
Also developed acute respiratory distress syndrome - Thiruvananthapuram: Thirty-five-year-old Wilson Lucose
Admitted with cough and cold - Vadodara: Seven-year-old Arya Borde
Also developed severe respiratory problems - Mumbai: 62-year-old Sayeeda Dorheewala
Also suffering from several complications - Pune: 13-year-old Shruti Gawade
Also developed acute respiratory distress syndrome
The girl had severe respiratory problems and was put on ventilator. She had been in a critical condition for the last three days. It's not clear how she got the virus. None of her family members is known to have visited any foreign country.
On Tuesday morning, 13-year-old Shruti Gawade, a student of Ahilyabai School in Pune, died due to swine flu. She was the eighth victim of the deadly flu in India.
She had developed acute respiratory distress syndrome. This is the fifth swine flu death in Pune. She was admitted with fever, cough and breathlessness. She tested positive for swine flu on August 8.
Shruti is also perhaps another case of late diagnosis. On August 1 Shruti Gawade was first admitted to Pune's KEM hospital with swine flu like symptoms.
On August 8, she was transferred to Sassoon Hospital after testing positive for swine flu. She was put on ventilator intermittently.
Monday evening Shruti's condition deteriorated. She developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and at 1:30 am on Tuesday she died of swine flu.
Following are the details about the three deaths on Monday but all had other health problems as well:In Pune: Thirty five-year-old Sanjay Tilekar, a chemist, also suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome.
In Pune: Thirty six-year-old Babasaheb Mane, an ayurvedic doctor, also suffering from severe broncho-pnemonia.
In Chennai: Four-year-old Sanjay Balkumar, also suffering from Asthma, was hospitalised for diarrhea. (With PTI inputs)