No human flu case yet, says govt

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has announced that there is no incidence of avian influenza in the country right now, with 94 out of 95 human samples taken having tested negative. The result of the last one is expected by Saturday.

"Only four had showed some indications, but they had very low viral load. The results are awaited for one. The 12 persons who were put under observation have not shown any symptoms of avian influenza," said N K Ganguly, director-general, Indian Council of Medical Research.

However, the government is taking no chances and is doubling its stockpile of oseltamivir (generic version of Roche's Tamiflu).

"We have 50,000 courses and 20,000 more are set to come in from Hetero. Roche will supply another 30,000 by March. Meanwhile, we will be procuring another lakh dosages of Tamiflu and have asked Cipla and Hetero to send in their price quotations," said Deepak Gupta, additional health secretary. Once Ranbaxy gets marketing approval, it would be considered too, Gupta added.

P M A Hakeem, secretary, department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, conceded that though there had been some loss of poultry exports on account of some countries banning Indian products, it was premature to quantify it.