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No need to panic on swine flu: Azad New Delhi, June 12 The health systems in India are ready nevertheless for any eventuality, with the government asking people not to panic, considering swine flu infections here were far less and the disease had not emanated locally. Moreover, of the 16 infections confirmed so far, five persons have been successfully treated and discharged; 11 (Eight in Hyderabad, five in Delhi, two in Coimbatore and one in Goa) are on treatment. Of the 16 infected persons, 15 came from the US, and one from the UK. In all, 237 samples were tested in India, of which most were collected after self-reporting by people. “We are prepared to deal with the challenge of influenza A of H1N1. There is no need to panic. The disease is fully curable and we have enough stock of Tamiflu medicine,” said Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. India, meanwhile, decided to direct all its missions abroad to issue swine flu advisories to people seeking visas. The idea is to encourage people with flu symptoms to defer travel plans. As regards the severity of infection, the WHO said it was it was moderate, as most people were recovering without the need for hospitalisation. In the Indian context, specially, the influenza A H1N1 infection can still be prevented, with Vineet Choudhry, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, saying, “We have not reached level 6 of the epidemic, where we need to go away from screening and surveillance of people to pure mitigation of the infection. We still have the chance of screening people and preventing the infection. At the actual pandemic level, screening would become irrelevant and focus would have to be shifted to treatment. We are, however, fully geared for the outbreak, if any.”On preparedness level, the government has decided to install six thermal scanners at Delhi airport to strengthen and expedite its screening mechanism. The highly sensitive scanners can catch the possibility of an infection in a certain passenger. “We would be testing the scanners at Delhi first and could buy more later,” said government officials. Meanwhile, an emergency response plan has been drafted and sent to all the states, which have been asked to keep their rapid response teams ready to deal with cluster infections in the future. The government today also decentralised the Tamiflu stock at seven places across India, including Delhi, Karnal, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati. All states have been given emergency protection kits and the National Disaster Management Authority has been asked to prepare a non-health emergency plan for any outbreak. On the prevention level, the government has advised people with flu symptoms to defer travels, report to the nearby government health facility and not buy Tamiflu in retail as that could cause resistance in the virus. Even as India said it need not panic, the WHO yesterday warned of how the virus might behave under conditions typically found in the developing world. To date, most cases have been detected in well-off countries. Margaret Chan, Director General, WHO, yesterday cautioned pregnant women, as H1N1 virus preferentially infects younger people.
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