Gujarat minister contracts swine flu

Gujarat’s Minister of State for health Sankarbhai Chaudhary on Monday tested positive for swine flu virus that has claimed 219 lives in the state since January.

In the last 24 hours alone, 12 swine flu deaths have been reported in the state. Chaudhary is the second important member of the state government to contract the H1N1 virus after the Speaker of the state Assembly Ganpat Vasava who tested positive for the virus. The Speaker’s ailment prompted the ruling BJP to elect a deputy speaker to conduct the Assembly’s budget session that began on Monday.

Gujarat is second only to Rajasthan in terms of swine flu deaths. Over 230 new cases have been registered across the state in the last 24 hours, taking the number of swine flu cases in the state to 3,337. Ahmedabad registered over 105 new cases in the last 24 hours, followed by Surat (29 cases), Kutch (16), Baroda (14) and Gandhinagar (9).

Meanwhile, the state government claimed that over 1945 swine flu patients have been cured so far. With both the central and state governments busy procuring diagnostic kits to test the virus, masks and anti-viral Oseltamivir drugs, experts believe it would be a while before the disease is brought under control.