IANS

New Delhi, Jul 29: Twenty-one people, including a year-old child, were Tuesday detected with swine flu, taking the total number of the influenza A(H1N1) cases in India to 475, health officials said here.

A high level meeting of joint monitoring group in Delhi decided that no school should be shut after swine flu detection instead infected students should be home quarantined.

Most of those tested positive Tuesday were children. The youngest, who came from London and was detected with the swine flu, is a one-year-old boy from Thiruvananthapuram.

"About 2,184 persons have been tested so far, out of whom 475 are positive for Influenza A(H1N1). Of the 475 positive cases, 353 have been discharged," according to an official statement issued here.

On Tuesday, 21 new confirmed cases were reported with Pune for the second consecutive day reporting the maximum number of swine flu cases in the country. Seven people were tested positive for the flu in the Maharashtra city followed by Delhi (5), two each in Gurgaon and Bangalore, and one each in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kozhikode, Trivandrum and Punjab.

Out of the five cases in Delhi, four people, including two teenagers and a two-year-old boy, contracted the virus from those who had the flu earlier.

A 10-year-old boy who had come from Frankfurt and had reached Delhi July 27 was tested positive. He was detected at the airport and was admitted to an identified health facility.

The number of swine flu cases in Maharashtra Tuesday touched 101, with the maximum cases reported from Pune so far, a senior health official said.

Pune has already been declared a pandemic city and a total of 66 cases, including 48 children, have tested positive, state Swine Flu Control Room head Pradeep Awatre told IANS.

In the hillstation of Panchgani, the health authorities have launched a "combing operation" in all the 16 top residential public schools to detect swine flu cases after 16 students tested positive Monday.

Satara district health chief Vijaysinh Mohite said after Monday's 16 positive cases in Panchgani's St. Peter's High School, a health team has begun combing operations to detect more such cases.

"Our health team is going around all the 16 residential public schools which house over 5,000 students, and we are checking them all for swine flu symptoms," Mohite told IANS.

In Gurgaon, Haryana, a woman and a a teenage girl contracted the disease from a person who had the virus earlier.

In Kozhikode, Kerala, an 18-year-old girl, who travelled from Bahrain and reached the city July 26, was detected with the virus infection at the airport.

In Thiruvananthapuram, a one-year-old boy who had returned from London and reached the Kerala capital July 19, tested positive for the flu. On July 26, the infant showed flu-like symptoms and was admitted to the hospital.

In Amritsar, a 19 year-old boy, who had come from Malaysia and had reached Delhi on July 24, was detected with the flu. On reaching Delhi, the teenager had reached the Punjab city by train on July 25. The next day, he showed flu-like symptoms and was admitted to the hospital.