At least 49 new swine flu cases were reported Saturday in this Maharashtra city, as a doctor and a pharmacist, both influenza A(H1N1) patients, continued to be critical for the second day, health authorities said.
A swine flu patient in Mumbai has also turned critical, according to the officials.
The authorities shut down four more colleges and a school in Pune for a week after some students tested positive for influenza A(H1N1).
The educational institutions that were ordered to be shut Saturday are S.P. College, ILS College, VIT College, Dehu Road College and Bishops School, said S.R. Pardeshi, head of Pune Municipal Corporation's health department.
These are in addition to the Symbiosis Campus Senapati Bapat Marg that was ordered shut Friday after an 18-year old female student tested positive, Pardeshi said.
The condition of the Symbiosis student is stable and improving, according to Faculty of Health Science Dean Rajiv Yeravdekar.
In the past few weeks, nearly 40 schools in Pune and one in Pancghani, a hill station in adjacent Satara district, have been hit by the flu cases.
Among the 116 patients in different Pune hospitals, a medico and a pharmacist have been put on ventilators as they continued to be critical, the official said.
Maharashtra has reported over 260 cases and 160 are from Pune, the city that has been declared pandemic.
In Mumbai, 28-year-old businessman Sandeep Gaikwad, who was admitted to the Hiranandani Hospital after developing swine flue symptoms last week, turned critical yesterday and was put on a ventilator.
As a precautionary measure, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has opened five new swine flue screening centres, a health official said.
They include: M.T. Agarwal Hospital, Mulund, Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar; Bhabha Hospital, Bandra; Siddharth Hospital, Goregaon; and Bhagwati Hospital, Borivli, even as Kasturba Hospital continues to be the main centre for treatment.
In Pune, the government opened two more cenrtres for swine flu treatment.
"Apart from the regular Naidu Hospital, we have started treating swine flu patients at Sassoon Hospital and the Aundh Hospital, too," Swine Flu Control Room head Pradeep Awate told IANS.
Five people, including a five-year old girl, have been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Sassoon Hospital. The girl's condition is "stable", according to Awate and besides swine flu symptoms, she is also suffering from pneumonia.
A 53-year-old woman died of swine flu here Saturday evening, as the influenza A(H1N1) virus claimed its second victim in India in less than a week, officials said.
The woman, identified as Fehmida Panwala, a Mumbai resident, died at Kasturba hospital here, Maharashtra's Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sharvari Gokhale told IANS.
A resident of Jogeshwari suburb in northwest Mumbai, Fehmida was Tuesday admitted to a hospital near her residence for diabetes and hypertension problems.
On Friday, she was admitteed in the Lilavati Hospital for a few hours. Her condition worsened and she was rushed to the Kasturba Hospital in the evening. Her sample was taken Saturday morning and she was diagnosed with influenza A(H1N1) in the afternoon.
"She tested positive for swine flu and passed away this (Saturday) evening," Gokhale said.
This is India's second swine flu death after 14-year-old Reeda Shaikh succumbed to the disease in Pune Monday.
Accodring to official figures, over 720 people in India have tested positive for swine flu so far, though over 500 of them have been discharged after being treated.
Maharashtra has reported over 260 cases and 160 are from Pune, the city that has been declared pandemic-hit. A doctor and a pharmacist, both influenza A(H1N1) patients, continued to be critical for the second day Saturday.
In Mumbai, 28-year-old businessman Sandeep Gaikwad, who was admitted to the Hiranandani Hospital after developing swine flue symptoms last week, turned critical Friday and was put on a ventilator.
Following Reeda's death, the state and central governments have announced strict guidelines to deal with suspected swine flu cases.