Govt’s swine flu alert to TN hosps

There are more than 350 cases that were screened in Telangana, of which more than 150 cases turned out to be positive. After the Health Department in the State started extensive screening against swine flu, even the Tamil Nadu Health Department alerted the district healthcare personnel and other government hospital authorities to keep a check on patients with symptoms of flu.

Tamil Nadu recorded at least 200 cases in December 2019 and about 100 cases have been screened in the State this month so far, of which around 53 are positive. As per the recent data released by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Tamil Nadu recorded 1,008 cases and four deaths in 2019, while there were 2,812 cases and 43 deaths in 2018. In 2019, other South Indian States including Telangana and Karnataka recorded higher numbers of swine flu cases than Tamil Nadu. Karnataka recorded 2,013 cases and 96 deaths and Telangana had 1,369 cases and 22 deaths in 2019.

Despite the alert, the State Health Department officials say that there is no need to panic as it is only a precautionary measure to ensure that there is no outbreak in Tamil Nadu. “The cases of swine flu usually reduce by February and this year, the numbers are comparatively lower than the cases recorded in January in 2019, when the State had 77 cases and one death due to swine flu.