Five under observation for swine flu in India, no confirmed cases yet

Five passengers with suspected influenza A (H1N1) symptoms have been quarantined at various places in India even as the government said the country continued to be free from swine flu infection.

"As of now, we have five passengers - two in Bangalore, two in Kochi and one in Delhi - under observation and their clinical samples are with the National Institute Communicable Diseases (NICD) and results are awaited," joint secretary health Vineet Chawdhry said.

Three people who were quarantined in Delhi - two of whom came from the US and one from Canada - were discharged Tuesday after they tested negative for swine flu, Chawdhry said.

China, meanwhile alarmed India about an Andhra Pradesh-based passenger on a flight from Mexico with a passenger tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) at Shanghai.

Health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing in 21 international airports at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Varanasi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Srinagar, Trichy and Trivandrum, a government release said.

A total of 36,323 passengers have been screened. Around 7,725 passengers were from affected countries while 172 doctors and 83 paramedics have been deployed to man 68 counters at the above airports.

So far samples of 15 persons have been tested and found negative for Influenza H1N1. Samples of five persons are under test, the release said.