Bengaluru: The scare of a swine flu epidemic has been increasing as the BBMP reported as many as 24 fresh swine flu cases in the State on Tuesday while there was yet another death due to the flu.

The death was reported on Monday and following investigations, the Palike confirmed that it was a case of swine flu following which,  Minister UT Khader expressed displeasure over the measures taken by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Officials to curb the number of H1N1 cases. “Maximum numbers of cases have been reported in the Palike limits and needs to be looked into,” he said.

With this, the death toll due to swine flu has gone up to seven in the city, in a span of two months. The BBMP has sought a copy of the measures to be taken for swine flu prevention from the State’s health department. The same will be passed on to the medical health officers of all the eight zones of the BBMP.

“We have instructed all the health officers as well as MHOs to coordinate with the government as well as private hospitals to collect details of H1N1 cases regularly as well as create awareness”, said a BBMP health department official.

A round-the-clock BBMP help desk is set up at Dasappa Hospital. It received five calls of H1N1 enquiry, while a few calls were also answered on the Palike office lines. When fever and throat pain persist for over two days, the patient will be subjected to a throat swab test followed by admission to a BBMP referral hospital, said Medical Officer, D Sunitha.

The health department said that people can contact 080 2297 5684 to report or to know more about Swine flu.