With the alarming acceleration of swine flu, Maharashtra continues to face the onslaught of the lethal H1N1 virus with 13 people succumbing in the second week of February, taking the toll to 58.
11 of these cases, whose average age was around 50 years, suffered from other underlying ailments like diabetes and hypertension.
Of the 58 deaths recorded, 35 people died in the first two weeks of February itself, while there have been more than 220 cases in the second week alone, said medical sources.
The present toll has alarmingly exceeded the total of 43 deaths registered in 2014.
Since January, a total of 415 people have been affected by swine flu and are undergoing treatment, with most of the cases concentrated in Pune and Nagpur.
Scientists at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) observed a dramatic 22 per cent rise in swine flu transmission since the beginning of February as opposed to the two per cent positivity rate in January.
The districts of Pune, one of the epicenters of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and Nagpur, have already recorded more than 20 deaths each and the number is expected to rise with the onset of summer, said State medical authorities.
