The death toll in the country this year due to swine flu has soared to 226 with the H1N1 virus claiming 31 more lives in a week till Monday, while the number of those affected crossed the 6,000 mark with Rajasthan topping the list with 34 per cent of the total number of cases.
According to a Union health ministry data, Delhi, which till January 28 was third in the number of swine flu cases after Rajasthan and Gujarat, is now in the second position registering 1,011 cases, with 479 new cases recorded in the last one week,
Even though at least 14 deaths have taken place in the national capital — three in Safdarjung Hospital, 10 in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and one in AIIMS — due to the viral disease, these do not reflect in the data of the Union health ministry for the city.
A total of 6,601 people have tested positive for the disease in the country till Monday with 2,030 getting infected in the last seven days, the ministry data revealed.
Rajasthan has recorded 85 deaths and 2,263 cases till Monday. Gujarat was third with 43 deaths and 898 people being infected with H1N1 virus, followed by Haryana which recorded two deaths and 490 cases.
According to the data, Punjab reported 30 deaths and 250 cases of swine flu while Maharashtra recorded 138 cases and 12 deaths till Monday.
With the numbers going up, the health ministry has asked the states to bolster their surveillance for early detection of the disease and also keep beds reserved in hospitals to deal with acute cases which require ventilator facility.