H1NI claims four more

Four persons who were being treated for swine flu at various city hospitals succumbed to the infection in the last two days. This takes the toll to 279.

What's worrying is that most of these patients had reported early for treatment and were admitted within seven days of date of onset of illness. Besides the high number of deaths, yesterday also saw the highest number of H1N1 positive cases in a single day in July so far, with 46 people testing positive.

Of the four people who died between the last two days, three were at Sassoon General Hospital, while one person named Kutty Thomas (55), a Ahmednagar resident died at the KEM hospital. The three deaths from Sassoon include Mahajan Pawar (50) from Kondhwa, Rani Kakade (30), resident of Jejuri gaon who was six months pregnant, and Somnath Shinde (23), resident of Ahmednagar.

Eight students also tested positive, taking the count to 89 since June 7. A total of 116 patients are being treated across city hospitals, with 24 of them on ventilator support.