Swine flu cases in city second highest this Feb, says AMC data

The city is under the grip of swine flu. Taking into account the data provided by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) health department, February 2019 reported the second highest number of swine flu cases in a month. In 2015's February, the AMC had recorded 1,500 swine flu cases and 73 related deaths.

After 2015, only in February 2019, the city reported as many as 780 swine flu cases and 18 related deaths. However, 2017 was the worst as the number of swine flu cases hit 2,647. According to a survey conducted by the civic body, the cases have witnessed a change with regard to their footfall in a particular season. In 2015, the winter months saw the highest number of cases, while in 2017, most cases were reported after monsoon. In August 2017, the city had witnessed as many as 1,711 cases.

Health officials say that this year, after monsoons, the number of cases will see a sharp rise. " This year, swine flu cases will see a rise after the rains. The flu is now seasonal in nature and a rise will be observed when the season changes. This year, the temperature saw a variation in February," said Dr Bhavin Solanki, in-charge, medical officer of health, AMC.

"This year, some days had extremely cold weather and some days saw a sudden rise in temperature. More or less, the mean temperature allowed the swine flu virus to thrive," the officer added.