Nine more test positive for H1N1, two schools added to list

PUNE: Nine more persons, including three girl students of St Anne's school which recorded the first fatality of swine flu here, have tested positive for the virus even as names of two schools were added to the list of affected educational establishments, health officials said on Thursday.

The three schoolmates of the deceased Reeda Shaikh, the class nine student of St Anne's who died of the infection on August 3, belong to different classes, leading to concern that the virus may have spread in the school.

Two more schools - St Helena and Loyola - have reported one each positive case of the virus, according to Dr Ravindra Katti, state health department official.

The number of total positive H1N1 infections registered in the city now stands at 118. This represents the largest chunk of the 172 swine flu infections in the state, which has promulgated Epidemic Diseases Act in the Western Maharashtra districts of Pune and Satara.

Rattled by the death of the 14-year-old student due to swine flu, people continued to rush to civic Naidu hospital to get tested for the virus.

Health authorities have issued instructions to private clinics not to refer all cases of cough and cold to Naidu.