6 more confirmed cases of swine flu in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Six new cases of swine flu were tested positive in Kolkata on Thursday, the highest detected till now in a single day in the state. With this, the cumulative number of swine flu positive patients in West Bengal touched 19. The government indicated this could well be the trigger point for a wider spread of the disease in the state.

Amongst the new cases diagnosed on Thursday, two children were tested positive. Currently, nine H1N1 positive patients are undergoing treatment in the Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital in the city with three suspected cases under observation. Four suspected patients, who recently returned from Pune, have also been admitted in the Nadia district hospital.

Talking to ET, Dr Tapas Kumar Sen, the state nodal health officer for swine flu monitoring, said: "The way H1N1 virus spreads, it was expected that the number of swine flu cases in West Bengal will rise. The fact that there is no way to screen the huge number of people who come to Kolkata from the worst affected areas in the country, paves the way for the number of cases to rise further."

The state government has also invited private hospitals in the city to set up swine flu isolation wards. "Representative of the private hospitals will meet us on Friday to confirm whether they can set up treatment facilities as per the specific norms. After that, we will inspect their facilities and declare them as designated swine flu treatment centres," Mr Sen said.

While 36 beds are currently available in the ID Hospital for isolation of positive and suspected cases, Kolkata will get another ten isolation beds at the MR Bangur Hospital in Tollygunge. "This is part of our action plan to set up isolation wards in all the district hospitals. Even though MR Bangur Hospital is located in Kolkata, it is the main district hospital of South 24 Parganas," said Mr Sen.