India sees big spurt in swine flu cases in 2015

New Delhi: India has seen a massive spurt in cases of swine flu this year with 6,298 cases already being reported till Thursday and 485 deaths so far, a senior health ministry official said Friday.

The Congress meanwhile accused the Narendra Modi government of not having "any action plan" to face the "epidemic like situation"

Briefing media persons, Additional Secretary, Health, A. K. Panda said there were only 937 cases in the entire year in 2014 and 218 deaths.

"The virus is the same which was in circulation in 2009, when there was a worldwide outbreak, so it is very difficult to explain the rise in the number of cases," he said.

Panda said that according to research by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), there has been no mutation in the virus.

He said that the rise in the number of cases can also be attributed to more and more people coming forward and getting tested for the disease.

Panda said there were enough testing facilities in all states and only Uttar Pradesh is trying to set up more laboratories to test for the virus.

He added that the union health ministry would be writing to all states to provide low cost testing facilities for swine flu.

Hitting out at the government, Congress leader Ajay Maken said that the United Progressive Alliance government had tackled the situation effectively in 2009 when there was a worldwide outbreak.

He claimed that in spite of the warnings by international agencies, the government has not taken effective steps, while the health budget of Delhi government has been slashed.

"Why the BJP-led government is insensitive to the health of the residents of Delhi. This is a clearly a case of criminal negligence on the part of the government of India," he said.