A 30-year-old woman has succumbed to swine flu at a private hospital here, taking the toll in the viral infection in the city to 44.
Sharada Phulpati died on Tuesday night, hospital authorities said on Wednesday.
The flu continues to spread in the city with authorities reporting positive cases in one more school and two colleges in the city on Tuesday.
According to Dr Ashok Mehta, Joint Director, Health, 29 schools and six colleges in the city have so far reported swine flu cases since the first fatality on August 3.
A total of 21 patients are in the ICU out of which eight were on the ventilator, he added.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV), which is the only designated lab for testing of throat swabs for the virus, is flooded with samples of suspected patients, resulting in delay in obtaining results.
Health officials are looking into the possibility of authorising private labs to test for the virus to reduce the load on NIV.
Keywords: swine flu, influenza A(H1N1), H1N1, WHO, Pune
