Narendra Modi tests positive for swine flu

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has tested positive for swine flu. The confirmation of the test carried out on Thursday was announced by the state government on Friday morning, sending a wave of panic among a group of top industrialists who accompanied him on a recent visit to Moscow.

The whole Gujarat cabinet is also now being tested for the disease as the ministers were with the chief minister in a three-hour cabinet meeting on Thursday after his blood samples were taken.

One minister said: "He should not have taken the meeting if he was being suspected of having swine flu. He could have waited for the results of the test."

Reports about Modi having swine flu had started trickling in on Thursday evening. However, the government had refused to confirm it. Once the first test gave a positive result, another confirmatory test was carried out late on Thursday.

The government has earlier tried to hide his identity and the sample was labelled with a different name- "Ramesh".

Modi, who returned on Wednesday, will be kept in isolation for seven days at his residence, where a team of doctors are attending on him.

All his public functions have been cancelled.