Four People Have Been Affected By H3N2 Virus In Mumbai

According to a report published in The Indian Express, cases of the H3N2 virus are gradually on the rise in India. According to the last update, four people have been affected by the virus in Mumbai and have been hospitalized. On Thursday, The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation informed that thirty-two patients in Mumbai had been admitted.

Among them, four were reported to be diagnosed with H3N2 and the rest of the twenty-eight patients had H1N1. But the public health department of BMC has confirmed that currently, the condition of all these patients is stable.

The BMC has also mentioned that in Ward E which includes Mazgaon, Byculla, and Ward E which includes Walkeshwar,  Tardeo, and Girgaum the risk factors are very high as multiple residents across those wards are suffering from influenza. Other than this there is also a mention of a few other places which are a high-risk zone too such as Sewri, Parel, Sion, Matunga, Prabhadevi, Worli, Lower Parel, Shivaji Park, and Dharavi too.

Measures That Have Been Taken By The BMC To Control The Spread Of Influenza

image source:https://images.indianexpress.com/2023/03/corona-22-1-1.jpeg?w=640
  • If the fever is not going down after twenty-four hours then, all the suspected cases are given a treatment of Oseltamivir.
  • Across all the municipal hospitals, medical colleges, dispensaries, and maternity homes in Mumbai, Oseltamivir has been made freely accessible so that patients can get immediate access to it without any hindrance.
  • Daily surveys in each house in Mumbai are being made in order to identify the people or patients who are at a risk.
  • Awareness activities of health are being conducted across the different communities in Mumbai with the help of health talks, posters, and short movies. Meetings are been conducted across different wards to identify the people who are having fevers so that immediate treatment can be given.

Last Wednesday, the Health Minister of Maharashtra Tanaji Sawant has shared at the state Assembly that, three hundred and fifty-two patients across different parts of the state are diagnosed with the H3N2 virus. He has also stated that there is no need to panic because H3N2 is not fatal. With proper medical treatment, it can get cured. He further mentioned that two persons who had died were due to influenza. Among them, one was a twenty-three-year-old studying in the first year of MBBS in Ahmednagar. He was found Covid-19 positive along with H1N1 and H3N2 viruses. The second case of death was of a seventy-two-year-old man residing in Nagpur. He suffered from the H3N2 virus.

In the meantime, an official has informed that Eknath Shinde, the Chief Minister has chaired a meeting in order to review the preparedness of various health departments to tackle H3N2 outspread. He stated that if the patient can be diagnosed early then there are lesser chances of complications and influenza can be cured. Shinde has further told the authorities that the private sector hospitals must be ready to join hands with the government hospitals if the need arises.