Two pregnant women latest swine flu fatalities from Mumbai

Two pregnant women succumbed to the swine flu virus in Mumbai on Friday, the health department of the BMC reported. There were also 12 new cases of the infection, of which five were patients brought from outside the city.

Two pregnant women succumbed to the swine flu virus on Friday, the health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported. There were also 12 new cases of the infection, of which five were patients brought from outside the city.

Of the two women who died, one was a 30-year-old resident of Kurla, who was in the last week of pregnancy and had been admitted to a local hospital on March 19. She was later shifted to another private hospital on March 21, where she died. The woman delivered a boy during the hospitalisation. The child is reported to be safe.

The second victim, a 23-year-old woman from Rabale, Navi Mumbai, was six months pregnant and admitted to a local hospital on February 19. “She was later shifted to DY Patil Hospital in Navi Mumbai and finally to KEM Hospital in Parel. The patient had hypertension and lung tuberculosis,” said an official from the public health department.

With these deaths, the toll in the city from swine flu reached 13. There were 26 more deaths of patients who were not residents of Mumbai but had been brought to the city for treatment. The total number of cases in the city reached 1,523, excluding 201 cases that were from outside the city, this year.

After the sudden spike in day temperatures to 40.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, maximum temperatures fell almost seven degrees Celsius on Friday, to 33.1 degrees Celsius, 0.2 degrees Celsius below normal, owing to westerly winds carrying moisture. Maximum temperatures at south Mumbai, too, saw a drop from Wednesday’s spike of 36.3 degrees Celsius to 32.8 degrees Celsius, 0.8 degrees Celsius above normal, on Friday.