Two more deaths in Delhi, positive cases cross 1,000

Two more deaths on Thursday took the total number of people succumbing to swine flu in the Capital to six, reports HT Correspondent.

Two more deaths on Thursday took the total number of people succumbing to swine flu in the Capital to six.

HT Image

With 66 confirmed cases, the total number of affected people in Delhi crossed the 1,000 mark in the city and reached 1,067.

Twelve-year-old Gauri Venu, a resident of Dwarka. admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, and 66-year-old Hoshiyar Singh, a resident of Hissar (Haryana) admitted in the Metro Heart Institute, passed away on Thursday.

Venu was admitted to RML on September 3 and tested positive three days later. She had been on ventilator support the whole of last week after developing respiratory complications.

“She died due to acute respiratory distressed syndrome as a result of the flu,” said Dr N.K. Chaturvedi, medical superintendent, RML.

Singh was admitted to the hospital for a heart ailment last week and tested positive for H1N1 on Wednesday. According to doctors treating him, Singh died due to his underlying condition and not H1N1.

“He did test positive for H1N1 but the cause of death is not that,” said a doctor at the hospital who refused to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The state health department, however, does not count Singh as a Delhi case, as he is a resident of Haryana.

“He isn’t technically a Delhi case, as he doesn’t live in Delhi. Delhi has only five deaths so far,” said Dr Anjan Prakash, nodal officer for H1N1 in the Capital.

Meanwhile, Lady Sri Ram College (LSR) also saw its first case of H1N1 influenza on Thursday, when a final year student of the college tested positive for the virus.

Amisha Ahmad (20) — a final-year Philosophy honours student, had not been attending college for the past four days, as she was down with flu-like symptoms. She got herself tested for H1N1 on Monday, and on Thursday the result confirmed she was down with swine flu.

As a precautionary measure, the college administration asked Ahmad to stay at home till she recovered fully.

Also, the entire batch of final-year students of the course and teachers has been told to take leave for a week. The rest of the college functioned normally.

Schools like GD Goenka public school at Vasant Kunj also reported two cases of H1N1 from Classes VI and VIII on Wednesday, but some parents alleged the school was not informed about the cases by their parents.

“Parents shouldn’t hide the medical condition, as it’s a matter of safety of our kids,” said a parent.