Swine flu claimed five more lives in Hyderabad on Tuesday, taking the death toll from the air-borne disease to 12, this year.
As many as 221 cases of swine flu have been reported in the city so far, this year, including the 50 fresh cases that emerged this week, The Hindu reported.
The patients include three junior doctors - a postgraduate student from the gynaecology department and a house surgeon, both from the Gandhi Hospital, and a PG student from the general medicine department in Osmania General Hospital (OGH).
Gripped by the H1N1 scare, Hyderabadis have started taking extra precautions.
People have started avoiding public places and direct physical contact. Malls looked empty, despite an up to 50 percent discount sale, according to The Times of India.
"I used to go out a lot. But after this fresh outbreak, I'm not going out so often — I just travel from home to office and back. I think I'll follow this till the situation gets under control," Harsha Subbaiah, a lawyer, told TOI.
Since swine flu is contracted through exposure to contaminated droplets from a sick person, surgical masks and hand sanitizers have been in huge demand.
"Earlier, we used to sell 10 or 20 masks a week. But as the cases of swine flu have gone up, we're selling about a 100 a week," said Mahender Reddy, who runs a pharmacy in Banjara Hills.
High fever, sore throat, body aches, vomiting, fatigue, running nose, headache, chills and diarrhoea are some of the symptoms of swine flu.
