Swine Flu: Nine more deaths, toll rises to 311

Rajkot and Amreli reported 2 deaths each while Gandhinagar, Surat, Banaskantha, Vadodara and Anand had 1 death each. Though Ahmedabad did not witness any death on Thursday, the number of fresh cases was again the highest with 58 new cases. Other fresh cases were reported from Surat (20), Vadodara (15), Rajkot (12), Kutch, Banaskantha, Mehsana and Amreli (7 each), Jamnagar (6), Bhavnagar (5), Kheda (4) and 23 from other districts.

Meanwhile, around 10,000 advocates practising in different lower courts in Ahmedabad stayed away from work on Thursday due to Swine flu scare for the third day.

Earlier, lawyers’ bar associations had taken a decision to stay away from court proceedings till March 7.

Keeping in mind Holi celebrations, which is popularly called Dhuleti here, the Gujarat government published an advisory as an advertisement in major local newspapers on Thursday asking people to remain alert as well as take necessary precautions while playing with others in the wake of the Swine flu outbreak.

Through this advisory, the Gujarat government asked people with Swine flu symptoms, such as cold or cough, to refrain from celebrating Holi (Dhuleti) and remain indoors to avoid infecting others.

The Gujarat government has also assured citizens that the administration is “fully equipped” to tackle the disease.

With inputs from PTI