GURUGRAM: A total of 10 suspected swine flu cases have already been reported in Gurugram this year, taking the count to 15 since last November. And city doctors suspect that the new strain of the flu virus may remain active during the coming summer months too, prompting the health department to launch district-wide awareness programmes to avert any major outbreak of the disease. Health officials said of the 10 suspected cases reported between January 1 and February 12, two were from government hospitals while the remaining eight came from various private healthcare facilities. In November and December last year, five patients were diagnosed with symptoms quite similar to those of swine flu. In neighbouring Delhi, one person has died and 22 others have been found positive for swine flu as, on February 18. “All those (Gurgaon) patients have been treated as per the government guidelines. Their samples have been sent for tests to the national centre for disease control, and the detailed reports are still awaited,” said a senior health official in Gurugram. Moreover, six of the 10 patients were women and the majority of the suspected cases — six of the 10 — were reported from upscale colonies in Sushant Lok and DLF city, health officials claimed. Experts claimed that the H1N1 virus usually spread in cold and humid weather conditions, but a number of suspected cases of swine flu were reported during the 2017 summer. “The winter this time was comparatively warmer, yet 10 suspected cases have been reported. This could be due to genetic mutations, giving rise to a new strain of H1N1 virus, even as the symptoms remain the same i.e. high fever, cough and breathlessness,” said another health official. The department is already conducting awareness programmes in schools and has instructed all private hospitals to report any suspected case of swine flu to the district health authorities. Further, the department has fixed the rate for swine flu test and stocked up enough medicines to deal with a major outbreak, if any. “We have fixed the MRP for the test at Rs 4,500. No private laboratory can charge more than that. We have sufficient stock of swine flu medicines too,” said Dr BK Rajora, chief medical officer, Gurugram.