A new confirmed swine flu case came to light in Chandigarh.

As per reports, a young computer science student has been tested positive for the deadly H1N1 flu. He has become the first confirmed case of the influenza virus in Chandigarh.

The 19-year-old youth, who recently came back from the US to spend his holidays in Gurdaspur in Punjab, was taken to Government Multispecialty Hospital, Sector 16, on June 22 after he started showing flu symptoms.

The throat swab of the boy, which was forwarded to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi, tested positive for swine flu.

A group of three expert doctors and paramedics is looking after the patient, who has been given Tamiflu tablets.

Mr. H.C. Gera, Union Territory nodal officer for A(H1N1), said, “The patient was admitted to government hospital in Sector 16 of Chandigarh Monday with a complaint of high fever, running nose and sore throat. Seeing his travel history, we admitted him here in an isolated ward and sent his throat swab samples to NICD (National Institute of Communicable Diseases) in New Delhi.”
 
“We got the confirmation from NICD on Tuesday late evening that he had tested positive. Our team of doctors is observing him and his condition is stable. There is no need to panic and we are fully equipped to deal with the situation,” he added.

In the meantime, health officials also quarantined seven members of the youth's family who came into contact with him.

"The condition of the family members is normal and they have not shown any symptoms of A(H1N1) till now. However, we would monitor them for the next few days as a precautionary measure," Dr. Gera said.

Dr. Gera also said that over 20 suspected cases had been reported and tested negative over the past month in the city.

Earlier, 9 cases of swine flu comprising 8 from a private school in Jalandhar, and one from Mandi Gobindgarh who came back from an educational trip to the USA, were tested positive.