2009: A year of swine flu and masks

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Thursday, December 31, 2009 03:12:03 PM, UNI

2009: A year of commissions, little actions for Indian Muslims: As the country prepared for the polls in early 2009, the ruling alliance had little chance of getting the majority to form the .... Read Full

The Indian politicians who were in the limelight in 2009

Most loved and hated science stories of 2009

Pune: Year 2009 saw outbreak of swine flu, which took many lives across the country leaving the health authorities in a panicky situation and transforming Puneites into masked creatures.

In the span of just five months, Pune saw 146 deaths due to the deadly H1N1 virus. It also kept the civic authorities and health officials on their toes, forcing them to shut down many schools for a couple of weeks.

Even though it looked like common cold, but has dire consequences. The city is still fighting with the swine flu virus though Tamiflu tablets were made available to fight against the disease and prevent it as well. In August, the Maharashtra government invoked Epidemic Disease Act in Pune and Satara district which were among the most-affected areas.

By the end of the week the state government was forced to shut down all the schools and colleges of the city making people realise that prevention from the flu was more important than its cure.

Besides the schools and colleges, many malls, multiplexes and other entertainment places remained closed. The Central government initially restricted the use of Tamiflu tablets to a few hospitals, but later on it was made available at other chemist shops and hospitals as well.

The city has come a long way since the death of 14-year-old Reeda Shaikh of citys St Annes School. Reeda was the first swine flu victim of the country. A situation of panic prevailed in the city after her death. Denizens of Pune thronged the government-run hospitals (like Naidu hospital, Yeshwantrao Chavan Memorial hospital and Sasoon hospital) for getting their samples screened for the virus.

By the end of August, thousands of people from the whole district thronged various screening centres which were started by the government. Later on, private labs were allowed to conduct the flu test, providing a major relief to the government labs that were earlier testing throat swabs of suspected people everyday.

The surgical masks were sold like hot cakes as it was the only hope seen by the people to prevent them from the dreaded flu.

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