On Tuesday afternoon, two more cases of swine flu deaths have been reported from Gujarat and Maharashtra. The 63-year old elderly lady, Sayeeda Dorjeewala, a resident of Mumbra, in close by Thane district was admitted on 6th August to the Noor hospital in Mumbai, died after enduring major health complications subsequent to being tested affirmative for the H1N1 virus. Earlier, the 53-year old Famida Panwala was the earliest swine flu victim from Mumbai. This sums up the death toll in Maharashtra that has steadily increased to seven.

In Vadodara, Gujarat, a seven year old minor girl also died after succumbing to swine flu in Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad Hospital, a Government hospital. The seven year old girl identified as Arya Borde was admitted to the hospital in a precarious condition last Wednesday. Her swabs were sent for viral pneumonitis analysis to the National Center for Disease Control or NCDC located in Delhi that came out to be affirmative on 8th August.

Ravi Saxena, the Principal Secretary of Health said that the girl had been started on a dose of Tamiflu following her admission to the SSG hospital and was kept on ventilator support from 7th August. This morning her health deteriorated considerably and she died at close to 12:30 hours.

This ups the death count in Gujarat to two, with the first fatality being the 43-year old NRI, Praveen Patel who passed away on Sunday in a civil hospital.

All the four latest swine flu victims in Pune belong to the schools in that city. Two of them were from Symbiosis School located in Prabhat road while the remaining two belonged to the New India School.

Of the total count of 48 persons who have contracted swine flu in Pune, thirty three of them are students from schools located there. On Sunday, a helpline service has been put into place by the local authorities to provide assistance to anxious kin.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, there were sixteen fresh cases accounted of swine flu across India raising the tally to 429. The ministry has stated that of the 1,946 individuals who had been tested, 429 turned out to be positive.

Of the four cases reported from Delhi, one was of a 14-yr old girl student from Vasant Valley School located in Vasant Kunj, who had arrived from Britain. The class she belonged to has been suspended for a few days. The other case was that of a thirty year old man who had come back from Singapore and had displayed symptoms on arrival, following which he was taken to a health care facility. A twenty year old man in Delhi has been infected from an individual who had previously been tested affirmative with the H1N1 virus.

Of the confirmed swine flu cases, seven individuals were detected with the virus in Pune, two cases from Kozhikode and one case each cited from Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

An aggregate of 1,549 individuals who have been tested, 298 are affirmative cases of the swine flu virus. About 181 people have been released after been treated from health service organisations.

There were 13 new found laboratory corroborated cases cited with three each from Gurgaon and Delhi, two each from Hyderabad and Chandigarh and one each from Punjab, Pune and Kerala.

In Delhi, the reported three cases comprised of a two teen boy and girl, who had contracted the virus from an infected source. The third case was a seven year old boy who made a trip from London to Delhi on July 18 and was detected with swine flu-like symptoms and was admitted to a health care facility where the virus was confirmed on Sunday.

In Chandigarh, a 29 year old doctor from PGIMER who had lately been at a seminar in Britain and a 50 year old elderly lady who had come back from Singapore on July 14 were suffering from sore throat and runny nose. When their travel record was studied the necessary safety measures were undertaken and they were put in secluded wards. The doctor has been admitted to the PGIMER and the elderly woman is put up in a government run hospital.

An Eight year old boy from Roopnagar, Punjab, who has made a trip from Singapore through Bangkok when landed in Delhi was diagnosed with the virus. In Kerala, a six year old boy from Kasargod who had come back from Sharjah on 14 July, was put up in a hospital post his visible swine flu symptoms.

In Gurgaon, three girls of the ages 11, 14 and 8 years caught the virus from another school mate. In Hyderabad, two people, one a physician hailing from Riyadh and another from Malaysia were tested positive ensuing which they were quarantined at the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital that has been the core centre tending to swine flu cases. This ups the toll in Hyderabad to 39 of whom 30 have been cured and released. In Pune, a 13-yr old girl caught the infection from an infected batch mate in her school.

Two of the four students of an English medium school located at Karve Road, Pune have been confirmed to have contracted the (H1N1) swine flu virus and are being treated in Naidu Hospital. The outcome of the test results on the third student is expected shortly.

Vigilant health care officers chose to close down a class VII class of the English Medium School for a week on Wednesday after a boy and girl student were tested positive for the swine flu virus.  The infected boy, who had transferred the virus to his two batch mates, had a family member who had been in the US for 10 months to partake in the exchange programme of the American Field Service. From the nine students hailing from Maharashtra who travelled for the exchange programme, there were five who caught the flu.

Prophylactic treatment is being administered to those who have been in close range of these infected children, even though no evident symptoms might be evident.

There have been rising cases of suspected swine flu infections in schools in Delhi. The affected students are in their teens, many of whom had made a trip to Malaysia and Singapore. Three schools in Delhi have been advised to be watchful in that regard.

A mishap at the construction site of Mumbai Metro Line occurred at close to 11:30p.m where a metallic structure disintegrated. According to police officials, the debacle took place at the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Rail during the late hours of Monday night.

No fatalities have been reported in the episode that took place. The brawly winds accompanied with heavy rains that have continued since yesterday evening seem to have taken their toll on the metallic structure that had been erected to sustain the weight of the main concrete pillars of the Mumbai Metro Line finally gave way in the north-west Sakinaka suburb.

The Director of Mumbai Metro One, K. P. Maheshwari mentioned that the metallic structure that had caved in due to unruly winds was just a provisional gibbet that was constructed. The resultant wreckage had been effectively cleared in just two to three hours. He also stated that work has commenced once again at the site.

Mr. Maheshwari has stated that an in-depth inquiry to find out the reason for this mishap would be carried and a report of which will be ready.

The metro disaster is the second of its kind after Delhi has a construction over-bridge collapse just two days ago.

In an effort of boosting and strengthening ties, India and France are midst takes, also to add to this is the Indian contingent taking part in the France’s Bastille Day military parade which is the part of the annual Bastille Days celebrations. Indian Army, Air force and Navy contingent of 310 soldiers and a 90 member band marched along with the French troops down the Champs Elysees. The Indian Army contingent belonged to the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment Centre. This is the first time an Indian Prime Minister has been invited as the guest of honor at the Bastille Day military parade. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy were present

This is not the first time when the Indian troops have been on the French soil, the Indian soldiers had fought bravely for the allies on the French front during the First World War.

Post independence, France has been a key supplier of defense equipment to India.

“It is symbolic of how close our strategic relations and confident we are that India and France are walking together in the world for peace and security,” French ambassador to Delhi, Jerome Bonnafont said.

A big girder crashes at the site of yesterday’s Delhi metro bridge collapse, while it was been lifted by cranes. The girder crashed pulling the cranes up completely going vertical. Since morning, an estimate of four cranes had been contemplated to lift the massive girder, clearly a gross blunder of sorts.

Cranes were being used to clear the debris of yesterday’s mishap that killed six. DMRC Chief,E  Sreedharan is at the mishap site to gauge the matter. An ambulance had arrived on sight, though the DMRC officials have confirmed no fatalities so far, there have been six injured who have been moved to the trauma centre. The driver has miraculously escaped unscathed.

There was panic for 5 seconds while the cranes and girder flew across, dispersing splinters into the air. The police had been moving out people to escape the pieces. The cranes were trying to hoist a launcher when the wires of the crane snapped under the weight of the girder crashing at the site of the previous day’s accident creating a stampede of sorts in the initial few moments.

Urban minister, Jaipal Reddy  has mentioned in Parliament of a high level inquiry committee of independent experts has been constituted to inquire into the matter, the outcome of which will be up in ten days. He also reiterated that the committee would check design quality, method of construction and precautionary measures to avert any future repeats. Meanwhile, Chief Minister, Sheila Dixit has declined the resignation of Sreedharan saying that the country needs him in this time.

Gammon Construction Company is accessing the situation and most likely a penalty of up to 10-15 crores will be slapped on them. As the news spread, the stock market position of Gammon has gone for a toss. Gammon will have to negotiate the issue with government with the likely possibly of being black listed or buck up the penalty sum.

Shops present where girder had collapsed have been totally wretched. There have been significant traffic jams as the road has been blocked.