Swine flu death toll rises to 11 as health min claims adequate medicine supply

Bhubaneswar: With swine flu cases mounting in the state, health minister Pratap Jena on Wednesday said his department was continuously monitoring the situation and adequate medicines were in stock to treat patients.
Chairing a high-level meeting, the minister said, “Medicines in adequate quantity have already been supplied to Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and other district headquarters hospitals in the state. There is no need to panic as the state government is fully prepared to tackle the menace.”
He further advised the officials concerned to spread public awareness regarding the precautionary measures through newspapers, audio/visual mediums and social media.
Meanwhile, the death toll due to swine flu climbed to 11 with two more persons succumbing to it while undergoing treatment in private hospitals here. While a 50-year-old man died in Care Hospital, the other death of a 29-year-old woman was reported from AMRI Hospital in the city, official sources said.
The day also saw 16 fresh cases among the 47 swab samples tested for the H1N1 virus. Those infected are from Khurda (5), Cuttack (4), Jajpur (2), Sambalpur (2), one each from Angul, Nayagarh and Balasore.
So far, 507 samples have been tested and 171 found infected with the viral infection, the sources added.
On the other hand, the number of dengue patients in the state stood at 402 with two reported deaths. According to the health department, 70% of them contracted the disease outside the state. Among the deceased, one person was from Bihar and the other from Bhadrak. They had got the infection from Jharkhand and Bengaluru respectively, the sources added.