Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar calls swine flu a 'heart disease'

With swine flu taking alarming proportions, on Thursday, Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar called it a "heart disease" and made a bizarre suggestion that the municipal authority will plant trees to check the disease.

"Swine flu is a heart disease... Hence, BMC will plant trees, develop gardens and parks to check swine flu," Ambekar told reporters after garlanding the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai, on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

Swine flu, caused by an infection of H1N1 virus, has claimed over 650 lives across the country and affected over 10,000 people. In Maharashtra, 83 disease-related deaths have been reported so far.