The Hindu : Front Page : India better prepared to tackle swine flu: official

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
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India better prepared to tackle swine flu: official

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Even as the government claims that India is now better prepared to deal with influenza A (H1N1) outbreak than it was four years ago, three persons are being kept under observation here and two in Kochi.

Reports of swab samples of the three admitted to government hospitals in Delhi are being awaited, while the samples from Kochi are yet to reach the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi and the National Institute of Virology (NIC), Pune, Vineet Chowdhry, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told journalists here on Monday.

Earlier, 12 samples tested negative for swine flu, he said, adding no patient was under observation in Hyderabad.

Of the three admitted to the Delhi hospitals, one had volunteered to get himself tested. Two of them had arrived from the United States and the other from Germany. The two in Kochi had visited the U.S., Europe, and came to India via Dubai.

Mr. Chowdhry said screening might be required at road transition points in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar following reports that 84 passengers had entered India via the land route from Nepal. They were now being tracked down.

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