Swine flu in India has already claimed five lives in last seven days. And if we believe Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad – one-third of the Indian population was likely to get infected with the virus over the next two years – which means about 33 crore Indians. What he however added that according to these WHO predictions – most people would suffer only mild symptoms of the disease.
Though the Government is trying to underplay the situation may be so that people do not panic – the situation is clearly alarming. Consider these statistics:
Argentina: 7 H1N1 infections and 337 deaths (Very low %)
USA: 6,506 with H1N1 infection and 436 deaths (6.7%)
Australia: 30,000 confirmed H1N1 cases with 85 deaths (0.28%)
India: 782 positive H1N1 cases 5 deaths (5.75%)
What looks like is that Indian pattern is more closer to USA. Evene if we consider Indian pattern in isolation and extrapolate the current situation (if not phenomenal measures are taken) then if 33 crore Indian are affected by H1N1 virus (as indicated by health minister) then at about 5% there will be huge loss of life. May be what the minister have meant that 33 crore people will be required to be screened and mush less will be the serious confirmed cases?
But in any way the situation is worse than you can think of and as an individual ensure that you take all precautions. And if you catch the virus immediately try to isolate yourself at a quarentine.