With Pune reporting two more H1N1 deaths and 47 new cases, the Maharashtra government today ordered closure of all schools and colleges, including tuition centres, in the city for a week and shut theatres and multiplexes for three days. The Indian Council of Medical Research said the Pune situation had been declared a pandemic with transmissibility at the highest level (Level 6) but virulence still at the lowest (Level 1) — a “community spread” to denote that the flu virus was circulating freely in the city.

“By community spread, we mean that you can now pick up the virus anywhere and not necessarily by exposure to a known case. Health authorities there will not wait for confirmation of results but will administer Tamiflu if a person reports with symptoms and the doctor thinks it is a suspected H1N1 case,” said Dr V M Katoch, Director General of ICMR and Secretary, Health Research.

Two more persons — 32-year-old ayurveda doctor Babasaheb Laxman Mane and 35-year-old chemist Sanjay Tilekar — died in Pune today to take the city death count to four and seven nationwide. The death of a 25-year-old woman of Nigdi is still being attributed to pneumonia since the throat swab result from the National Institute of Virology has not come in. In the last four days, the city has had over 150 H1N1 cases.

Maharashtra water resources minister Ajit Pawar, who is the guardian minister for Pune, announced closure of all educational establishments for a week and said cinema houses, including multiplexes, have been asked to shut down for the next three days. He urged people to avoid crowding public places.

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