On Wednesday, the highest number of new swine flu cases was reported on a single day in the state this year. Twenty-one H1N1 positive cases were reported in the city and the districts on the day, taking the total number of swine flu patients to 167. Eight persons, including three children, have died across the state.
“Twenty-one more persons are down with the H1N1 virus according to the reports of their throat swab samples that were tested at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Kolkata. Eightynine people have been discharged while 70 others are undergoing treatment at different government and private hospitals in the city,” the director of health services, Dr BR Satpathi, said.
“Eight out of the 21 new cases tested positive at the NICD laboratory on Tuesday. The remaining 13 tested positive on Wednesday. Apart from the NICD, Peerless hospital has been given permission to conduct swine flu tests at its laboratory. No private laboratory will be allowed to conduct swine flu tests without the government’s approval,” Satpathi said. The health department has already directed a private hospital laboratory in Dhakuria in this regard because it was conducting swine flu tests without taking approval from the government.
“Following our directive, the private lab has stopped the tests. The NICD experts have visited the laboratory to verify the infrastructure required for testing throat swab samples of suspected swine flu patients to find the presence of H1N1 virus,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Following our directive, the private lab has stopped the tests. The NICD experts have visited the laboratory to verify the infrastructure required for testing throat swab samples of suspected swine flu patients to find the presence of H1N1 virus,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}A team of officers of the director general of health services under the Union health ministry and the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health here visited the state-run Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital, BC Roy Memorial Hospital for Children in Beliaghata, private hospitals and NICD lab on Monday.