Raipur/Pune/Bangalore (PTI): Swine flu claimed four more lives, two of them in Chhattisgarh, taking the total number of casualties to 26, even as the government decided to issue new guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of suspected patients to calm fear among the people.

70-year-old woman Parubhai Shinde died in Pune and 18-year-old youth Sitaram Varma and 40-year-old CRPF constable succumbed in Raipur and Bilaspur since on Friday night, while a 55-year-old man Shivanna died today in Bangalore, becoming the second victim in Karnataka after a school teacher Roopa fell victim to the deadly flu.

Shivanna, who had been admitted to Wockhart Hospital on August 12, died this morning, health officials said.

Shinde, who was admitted to a hospital in Pune four days back following high fever and other symptoms of swine flu, died late last night, health officials said. With this, the toll in Pune, the ground zero of the disease, mounted to 15.

Varma died in Raipur yesterday of suspected swine flu to the first fatality in Chhattisgarh and it was followed by the death of CRPF man Y S Rao, who had recently been to Mumbai, in Bilaspur today.

Varma, hailing from Bhilai, was suffering from pneumonia and throat infection, hospital sources said. Nodal officer in-charge of swine flu cases in Chhattisgarh T K Aggarwal said Varma's throat swab was sent to Delhi for the flu test as the boy had recently visited Pune.

Besides the deaths in Pune, one person each has died due to the viral infection in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Nashik, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bangalore, Raipur and Bilaspur and two in Mumbai.