A report compiled by the Centre’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme found that Rajasthan reported the highest number of swine flu cases in the country in 2018, PTI reported on Wednesday. The report, released on February 11, pegged the number of cases reported in the state at 871, with 578 in Jaipur alone.
The report showed that 1,022 people tested positive for swine flu in India in 2018 so far. According to the report, Jammu and Kashmir accounted for the second highest number of cases with 27 people testing positive. Gujarat reported 16 cases, Madhya Pradesh had seven (with two deaths), Haryana had 13 (with two deaths), Delhi had 19 (one death) and Uttar Pradesh had 10 cases (one death).
Rajasthan health officials collected samples from 15 MLAs at the Assembly on Wednesday after Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Amrita Meghwal tested positive for the H1N1 virus. “The samples will be sent to a laboratory for confirmation of swine flu,” Chief Medical and Health Officer Narottam Sharma said.
Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf ordered the director of public health to direct all district chief medical and health officers to test people who came in contact with those who tested positive for the virus.
On January 3, the Rajasthan government had issued an alert after more than 400 people tested positive for the virus in December 2017, reported ANI. Days later, Health Director VK Singh Mathur said that the department was “well equipped” to control the situation.
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