New Delhi: In the past one month hundreds of cases coming to light about swine flu is again making headlines in the country. According to official data, at least 4,571 people — an average of 168 cases per day — have been diagnosed with H1N1 virus so far. Swine flu has claimed 169 lives across the country since the beginning of the year.

As per data compiled by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Rajasthan is the worst affected state with at least 1,856 (40%) of the total cases being reported from the state as of January 27. The state has witnessed 72 deaths in the past one month. Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said the government has decided to make arrangements for swine flu testing in five new medical colleges, PTI reported. After early outbreaks in North America, H1N1 has spread rapidly around the world with the World Health Organisation (WHO) issuing a global pandemic alert for it in 2009. In 2010, swine flu was classified as a seasonal influenza virus.

In Delhi, as many as 479 cases have been registered since the beginning of the year. While the number of H1N1 cases have seen a spike since the disease broke out across the country in 2015 when at least 42,592 cases were reported. Last year, around 14,992 people were diagnosed with the virus, resulting in 1,103 deaths. Tamil Nadu was the most affected state in 2018 with 2,812 reported cases, while Gujarat accounted for the most number of swine flu cases in 2017 at 7,709.

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Earlier, BJP chief Amit Shah was also diagnosed with swine flu on January 20 and was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was discharged last week. Even former defence minister George Fernandes also pass away due to swine flu illness.

Swine flu cases generally spike in the winter months of December and January in the west and north of the country including in Rajasthan and in New Delhi.

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