Pune/Ahmedabad/New Delhi: The contagious swine flu claimed two more lives in India on Sunday, taking the national death toll in just a week to four and forcing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office to start monitoring the gradually spreading virus.
Authorities in Maharashtra and Gujarat--which account for all four deaths--were on high alert after the latest fatalities even as the total number of cases across the country neared 800.
The latest victims of influenza A (H1NI) were Sanjay Kokare, a village schoolteacher who died in a Pune hospital, and Pravin Patel of Atlanta in the US who had flown into Ahmedabad a week ago. Patel's wife is in critical condition.
Kokare died in Pune's Sassoon Hospital after midnight on Saturday.
Ashok Ladda, additional director of the state family welfare department, said that Kokare was admitted initially to a hospital in Khedegaon village near Pune July 31.
He was sent home after two days. But his condition deteriorated again and he was taken to a private hospital in Pune. He was moved to Sassoon Hospital two days back and was on ventilator when he died, Ladda said.
Pravin Patel died at the civil hospital in Gujarat's main city Ahmedabad early Sunday. He and his wife had tested positive for swine flu on Saturday.
"This is the first swine flu death in Ahmedabad. The patient had other complications as well. He had viral pneumonia, which is very difficult to treat. His haemoglobin was low. All these added to the complications of swine flu," Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas told IANS.
The latest deaths prompted Manmohan Singh to tell Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad that a panel of doctors be formed to provide the people "correct information" regarding swine flu.
According to an official in the Prime Minister's Office, Manmohan Singh said the panel should also provide proper information to the media.
Even as the authorities battled swine flu, an ugly row erupted after Azad said that swine flu was contagious and those who had fallen victim to it could have passed on the virus to others.
His remarks that 14-year-old Pune school girl Reeda Shaikh, who died August 3 becoming India's first swine flu victim, could have spread the virus to 80 people by visiting more than one hospital triggered an angry response from her grieving family.
"One small girl went from one hospital to another, then a third hospital to get treatment and then a fourth, without awareness. In the process some 80 people were infected. This girl...transmitted the virus in the course of seeking treatment," the Minister said in New Delhi.
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In Pune, the girl's mother and aunt lashed out at Azad, demanding his resignation for his "insensitive remarks".
"We want an apology from the government. (Azad) has hurt a mother... He has blamed our child for having infected around 80 others. He needs to get his facts right," the mother told reporters.
The girl's aunt, Ayesha Shaikh, said: "Our child sacrificed her life for the nation. Because of her death so many people went for swine flu test and have tested positive. We want an apology or resignation from Azad."
After Reeda's death, there was a respite before housemaker Fahmida Paanwala, 53, succumbed to the virus late Saturday in Mumbai's Kasturba Hospital. Within 24 hours, two more people died.
India has reported 783 cases including four deaths. Over 500 patients have been cured. The most badly hit states are Delhi and Maharashtra.
Authorities are closely monitoring the condition of three people - a medico and a pharmacist, who are in critical condition in Pune, and a 28-year-old businessman who is in critical condition in a Mumbai hospital.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan convened a meeting of officials and experts as a team from the National Centre for Disease Control, formerly the National Institute of Communicable Disease, left for Pune.
Pune is in the grip of panic as thousands besieged government hospitals to get themselves checked, almost all of them with their faces masked.
In New Delhi, the privately run Sanskriti School closed down for a week after three students tested positive for swine flu, including one who recently visited Britain.
Schools in Delhi are doing everything to contain the spread of the virus among students. One teacher told IANS that even a sneeze in class was now enough to send a student home with advice for an immediate check-up.
Fresh cases have also been reported from Lucknow, Goa and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, revealing the contagious nature of the disease that erupted in Mexico.
Randeep Guleria, head of medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, meanwhile warned: "The epidemic is here to stay for some time."
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