BAHAWALPUR: Swine flu on Thursday claimed another life at the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH).

Dr Muhammad Umar’s brother Mureed Hussain and his mother Ms Haleema have died of swine flu within two days, taking the number of victims of the flu virus at the BVH to six since January 2019, according to Director Emergencies Dr Aamir Bokhari.

Mr Bokhari told Dawn that Mureed Hussain was in the ICU and he expired on Thursday morning. The family took his body to their native place. He said two other members of the family Qasim, 28, and Asma, 4, (nephew and niece of Dr Umar), also suffering from the virus, were discharged from the hospital for the burial of Mureed and his mother Haleema.

Meanwhile, the director said, two more swine flu patients were admitted to the BVH on Thursday. Ms Surraya, 24, a resident of Fort Abbas tehsil, and Mahmood, a resident of Khanpur Ghalwan (Bahawalpur), were tested positive and their treatment of H1N1 was started.

The director said that since January 2019, sixty-one suspected patients of H1N1 were admitted to the BVH and 14 of them tested positive.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2019