Jamnagar Surendranagar District Tarnetar Fair Swine Flu News Gujarat India

With the fairs and festivities of last week supposedly causing the sudden spurt in cases of H1N1 flu in Saurashtra, Surendranagar district health officials are trying to prevent the spread further in the forthcoming Tarnetar Fair to being on August 22 in the district.

Chief District Health officer of Surendranagar district, Dr BR Solanki said, "We have set up 14 teams for on the spot screening of people who will attend the Tarnetar fair, which will be held 9 km away from Than is ancient Trinetreshwar temple from August 22 to 25."

Anybody suspected of swine flu will be taken to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Surendranagar and treated there, Solanki added. More than 5 lakh people are expected to visit this annual festival held at Tarnetar no Melo during the five days.

This apart, across the seven districts of Saurashtra, three of which have already reported positive cases, district health authorities are gearing up to deal with the situation. Seven positive cases have been reported from Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar in last two days.

In Rajkot, after a 19-year-old student of Vivekanand Institute of Hotel and Tourism management tested positive, the district health authorities paid a visit to the institute late on Tuesday evening. A team of civil hospital doctors also paid a visit and checked the condition of other students. As two of them showed certain symptoms of the flu, they were sent to civil hospital for precautionary check up.

Ramesh Morani, Chairman of the institute said, "We have taken all necessary steps to be safe. We have asked the students to go home if they wish to and we are also ready to shut the institute if the situation warrants." The total number of suspected cases from Rajkot is now at 19. Four of them have tested positive and nine are negative.

In Jamnagar, of the five suspected cases one has been reported positive, whereas in Bhavnagar both suspected cases are reported positive.