Mansoor Peer
Srinagar, Feb 16: The death toll due to swine flu has risen to 22 in Kashmir this season with death of four more patients at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, officials said on Saturday.
An official at SKIMS said that four more patients, who had tested positive for H1N1 influenza, died at the institute this week.
“Among them were elderly cases, who had been suffering from comorbidities like cancer. They were positive for H1N1,” he said.
Due to fresh deaths, the death toll due to swine flu has risen to 22 this season.
It includes 20 deaths at SKIMS, Soura and two at SMHS hospital of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar in last five months.
Since September this season, over 1400 samples had been tested in twin laboratories at SKIMS and of them, more than 270 samples were found positive.
“At least 117 patients had been admitted in the hospital since September. Presently 13 patients are admitted at the facility including some in isolation,” said a senior official at SKIMS.
This seasons’ first death was reported at SKIMS in first week of October when a man from Shopian died of H1N1 and the cases had started pouring in since then.
Director SKIMS, Dr Omar Javid Shah said the swine flu was under control.
“The cases will decline once there is an improvement in weather conditions,” he said.
He said after last year deaths, they were quick to set up a swine flu expert team.
“The team is alert and continuously monitoring the situation and taking care of the cases thereof,” he said.
In Kashmir, the situation turned worst during last season when 30 swine flu deaths were reported at SKIMS between October 2017 and February 2018.
