Swine flu claims 11 lives across Maharashtra in 20 days

While on June 3, the state's public health minister announced a decrease in the number of swine flu deaths in the month of May compares to previous months this year, the number of deaths have again increased in June. Around 11 patients in the state have been reported dead due to swine flu within 20 days of June month.

According to the Public Health Minister, there has been a decline in the number of cases and deaths owing to the prevalence of swine flu in the state. While in May, only four people died between May 1 to May 10, there was not a single patient's death for the rest of the May month. The number of patients has also reduced.

As per the recent data shared by the public health department, only one patient in the state is on the ventilator. According to the public health minister Eknath Shinde, preventive measures are being implemented by the health department to reduce the number of cases and deaths.

Cold weather was felt till February-March. While the cold weather is a contributing factor for the swine flu virus, the numbers of patients and patient deaths were high in February and March.

According to data shared by the state government, out of 188 deaths, the highest number of patients have died in Nashik (34 death) followed by Nagpur (25 death), Ahmednagar (16 death) and Pune (13 death).

"Over 21,286 people were given Oseltamivir pills, an antiviral medication used to treat and prevent influenza A and influenza B from January 2019 till June 20. A regular survey of patients is conducted. Around 13.05 lakh patients were examined in the state. While 82 patients are currently admitted to the various hospitals, around 1,411 patients have been discharged." said a public health official.

While in January there were 117 patients and 26 patients died, in February, 401 patients had been diagnosed and 49 patients had died. In March, 585 patients were diagnosed and 63 patients died and in April, 328 patients had been detected and 35 patients had died. In May, 188 patients were found, out of which four died.