New Delhi, August 23: With one person each succumbing to suspected swine flu in Delhi, Chandigarh and Jalna in Maharashtra, the nationwide toll due to the virus has climbed to 66 even as 131 fresh cases of infection were reported from various states.
A 48-year-old man, a resident of Panchsheel Park in Delhi, was admitted to RML Hospital on August 20 with renal failure, fever and breathlessness, according to Hospital Medical Superintendent N K Chaturvedi.
He died yesterday evening following acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia, Chaturvedi said, adding that his swab test report was awaited. He had consulted private doctors before getting himself admitted to RML Hospital.
26-year-old Anil Sheshrao Chavan died of swine flu at the Mission Hospital in Jalna in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region, Health Officer B L Survase said.
A 40-year-old woman of Haryana’s Kurukshetra district died of suspected swine flu at a private hospital in Panchkula. Sheela’s swab has been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases for test, a senior Haryana health department official said.
Maharashtra now accounts for 35 flu deaths, the highest in the country, followed by Karnataka with 12 casualties. Five people have died in Gujarat, three each in Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, and once each in Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Goa and Haryana.
—Agencies