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NEW DELHI - A New Delhi hospital was Saturday monitoring one suspected flu patient who arrived from abroad, but tests on six other people have proved negative, a report said.
Test samples from the six had been sent to India's National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) for examination, the Press Trust of India said.
"The samples were put through a rapid test for the influenza A virus for which they tested negative," NICD director Shiv Lal told the news agency.
"Further tests for H1N1 flu were not required as only the influenza A virus can lead to swine flu," he said.
So far, no cases of the H1N1 flu have been confirmed in India. But there are worries any outbreak could spread quickly in the nation where many people live in congested, unsanitary conditions.
Another person who developed flu symptoms on an overnight flight from London remained in isolation at a New Delhi government hospital as the results from his test sample were not yet available, the NICD head said.
The 35-year-old man was hospitalised at the state-run Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, N.K. Chaturvedi, medical superintendent of the institution.
The man "was found to have classical symptoms of the flu" but "he is in the suspect category at the moment," Chaturvedi told AFP.
He was referred to the hospital after a medical screening at the airport, he said.
Another government official said his results should be available within "a maximum of 24 hours."
South Korea Saturday reported its first case of the H1N1 flu after Hong Kong said a man who flew from Mexico had the disease, in Asia's first confirmed cases as the virus continues its global spread.
The Indian government has said it plans to raise its stockpile of oseltamivir from one million doses to 10 million to deal with any outbreak.
Oseltamivir is the generic version of Swiss drugmaker Roche's Tamiflu used to treat the virus.
India's generic drug companies have told the government they can crank up output of the drug further in the event of need.
Indian authorities have begun screening passengers at the country's international airports to detect any cases of the H1N1 flu.
- AFP /ls
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