Indian Malls Suffering from Flu Virus

It was announced that the government of the western Indian state Maharashtra made a decision to close down all schools, colleges, cinema halls and malls in the Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad area Monday to check the fast spread of A/H1N1 flu in the area, said the state government.

Schools and colleges will be closed for the duration of the week. Cinema halls will be shut for three days only, said a state government spokesman.

This decision was prompted following the death Monday of a 35-year-old ayurvedic doctor in Pune, who was infected with the flu virus, raising the number of fatalities of the flu in the area to three.

The first citizen to fall prey to the H1N1 flu in India was a 14-year-old girl who died on August 3rd, also in Pune. To date, a total of six people have died of the flu in India so far.

However, more than 800 are infected with the virus, most of them in New Delhi, Maharashtra state and some southern states.