Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 19: The health department Thursday confirmed two more swine flu positive cases, taking the number of those affected by the virus since November to 36. Five persons have died of swine flu in this period.
The two persons who tested positive Thursday are males who are under treatment at separate private hospitals in the city.
Sources said one is a 52-year-old male from Kandhamal, while the other is a 43-year-old male from Sundergarh. Both of them were reportedly staying in the capital for a long time.
“We sent two swab samples to the Regional Medical Research Centre and both of them tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The patients are in two separate private hospitals in the city and their condition is stable,” said Kailash Das, director public health.
Meanwhile, health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and secretary Arti Ahuja Thursday asked health officials to take all possible measures to check the swine flu virus.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through video conferencing with the district authorities.
According to guidelines of the health department, patients will be treated at isolation wards of the district headquarters hospitals. If the condition deteriorates, the patient will be referred to the special treatment cells at the Capital Hospital and SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack.
The health department has also asked the people to ensure regular care of hands, eyes, mouth and nose. People have also been asked to keep away from people with prolonged cough and cold.
Joint secretaries of the department have been appointed nodal officers for reporting and tracking the disease while a special cell has been opened in the capital to analyse the situation.
The Regional Medical Research Centre has been assigned to test the swab samples. The government has also got Tamiflu and Fluvir, the vaccines for H1N1 influenza for high-risk groups.
