India sees big spurt in swine flu cases in 2015

New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) There has been a massive spurt in cases of swine flu this year with 6,298 cases already being reported till Thursday, a senior health ministry official said Friday.

As compared to this, there were only 937 cases in the entire year in 2014. While 485 deaths have already been reported this year, the corresponding figures for 2014 were just 218, Additional Secretary, Health, A. K. Panda told the media.

"The virus is the same which was in circulation in 2009, when there was a worldwide outbreak, so it is very difficult to explain the rise in the number of cases," he said.

Panda said that according to research by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), there has been no mutation in the virus.

He said that the rise in the number of cases can also be attributed to more and more people coming forward and getting tested for the disease.

Panda said there were enough testing facilities in all states and only Uttar Pradesh is trying to set up more laboratories to test for the virus.

He added that the union health ministry would be writing to all states to provide low cost testing facilities for swine flu.