By Mubasshir Mushtaq

NEW DELHI 

India recorded 14 swine flu deaths Thursday, making it one of the deadliest day for the seven-week old outbreak across the country.

Nine people died in western state of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, because of the epidemic, local media reported.

Addressing a press conference in state capital Gandhinagar, State Health Minister Nitin Patel said that the government was taking necessary steps to contain the epidemic, especially in Kutch district in northwestern Gujrat region.

Out of the nine, three died in Kutch, two in Ahmedabad city, and one each in Navsari, Anand, Valsad and Bharuch districts.

Thursday’s death figures pushed the death toll in Gujarat to 62 for 2015.

According to Patel, 162 patients with the H1N1 virus were cured and discharged from various hospitals in the state. The Gujarat state reported 476 swine flu cases.

Central state of Chhattisgarh recorded its first swine flu death Thursday when a 27-year-old pregnant woman succumbed to the deadly virus.

The western desert state of Rajasthan also recorded five swine flu deaths, pushing the total death toll in the state to 73 this year, Indo-Asian News Service reported. Thursday also saw three new cases in northern city of Lucknow, the state capital of India’s biggest Uttar Pradesh state.

One woman died on Wednesday as a result of swine flu in Pune city in western state of Maharashtra.

New Delhi, the national capital, reported 61 positive cases of the deadly virus on Tuesday. So far five people have lost their lives to the virus in the capital.

Senior Congress party leader and former chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Ghelot was diagnosed with the swine flu Monday.

Swine flu has so far claimed 215 lives throughout the country this year. In 2014, 216 people succumbed to the virus.