Wednesday, August 05, 2009 RIYADH: A Sri Lankan man and a Saudi teenager suffering from a heart defect have died from swine flu, raising the country's flu death toll to six, the Saudi health ministry said on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan man, 32, was found dead in his hotel room on Monday, while the 15-year-old Saudi failed to respond to treatment and died in hospital. On Friday the ministry said total A(H1N1) flu infections had reached nearly 600, and the government said it was doubling surveillance efforts as the peak season approached for umrah, the Islamic minor pilgrimage, to Mecca and Medina. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are expected to undertake the umrah during the month of Ramadan beginning in late August, heightening the threat of the disease spreading. Another two million or more are expected for the hajj full pilgrimage beginning at the end of November.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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