322 swine flu cases reported in India, says Health Minister

New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) As many as 322 swine flu cases
have been reported in India so far, with 234 of the
being treated and discharged compared to 200 deaths reported
in the US, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Wednesday.

"This proves that swine flu is 100 per cent curable in so
far as our country is concerned. ... We are lucky that there
have been no deaths in our country," he told the lower house
of the Parliament, Lok Sabha during Question Hour, noting that
over 200 casualties were reported each in the US and Mexico,
besides many more in the UK and Japan.

Of the 322 cases reported, 256 persons got infected
abroad. "Of them, 111 cases came from the US, 32 from
Australia, 15 from Thailand and some others from Canada,
Germany and Singapore," he said.

Noting that almost 36 lakh passengers were screened for
H1N1 virus at entry points like airports so far, Azad said
this was almost 45,000 passengers a day for the past two and a
half months.

While those found infected were being quarantined in one

major hospital in each state, the number of labs to check the
virus have been increased from two to 18 now, he said.

Azad said there was "no dearth of drugs" as ten million
Tamiflu doses have already been distributed across the country
and congratulated the teams of doctors and paramedics carrying
out the screening or treatment of patients.

"The virus in primarily coming from outside. Those found
infected at the entry points were being immediately taken to
isolation centres," the Minister said.

Azad said his Ministry has suggested the External Affairs
Ministry to discuss with other countries methods to screen
infected passengers at the point of origin itself, "but so far
no step has been taken in that direction." PTI