Swine flu spreads seven deaths reported in Haryana

New Delhi: The dreaded swine flu, which has affected over 40 people in Haryana is now giving sleepless nights to health department officials. 
Seven people died this month due to swine flu in Haryana, where 40 patients tested positive for HINI virus in this year, state health officials said on Tuesday. 
“There have been seven deaths out of 40 positive cases of swine flu which have so far come to light,” Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Ram Niwas said. 
The persons who died and who tested positive are from several districts, including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Hisar, Jind,Karnal, Rohtak and Fatehabad. 
Niwas was presiding over a meeting of civil surgeons of the state through video conferencing  where the steps taken to tackle the situation were reviewed. 
He said the health department made adequate arrangements for the treatment of patients suffering from swine flu. 
Health officials are worried the risk of contracting the air-borne disease had increased manifold in the district after Sankranti.
“Adequate stock of Tamiflu has been made available, ventilators have been provided and isolation wards have been set up in all hospitals of the state,” he said. 
He said, necessary instructions were issued to the civil surgeons to take all precautionary measures to check the spread of this virus, as well as tackle the swine flu cases in the state. 
Asking people not to panic, as the situation was well under control, he said the civil surgeons have also been asked to remain in regular touch with private hospitals to find out how many positive cases were being reported in the institutes. 
“We have also set up a task force in every district of the state to tackle the situation. We are trying to make the public aware through various initiatives that they must immediately report to hospitals if they find swine-flu like symptoms in them that include high fever and difficulty in breathing, etc.,” he said. 
“We are trying to track all those with whom a patient who has tested positive may have come in contact with,” Niwas said. 
The school authorities across the state had also been asked to make students aware about the symptoms of swine flu.