The Indian health ministry is leaving no stone unturned to contain swine flu in the country.

After a declaration made by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the deadly flu is continuously spreading all through the world, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar on Thursday evening took the decision to install thermal scanners at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International, where five out of the 16 cases in India have been reported.

The Thermal scanner procured at the IGI airport will screen out suspected influenza A(H1N1) cases coming from affected countries.

Moreover, the scanner can easily detect a person having a body temperature above normal (above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and check import of the infection into the country.

The ministry officials said that if the scanners are found helpful in detecting the disease, they will be installed at other big airports in the country also.

The Delhi administration on Friday, formed nine rapid response groups and assigning 11 state hospitals as treatment centres to deal with new H1N1 influenza cases in Delhi.

Mr. J P Singh, principal secretary (health), Delhi government said, “They were finally admitted to Airport Health Organisation hospital at the Delhi Airport. We can’t leave infected people at their homes. We have invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, under which no H1N1 infected person can stay at home.”

Thus far, the Union health ministry had been against procuring thermal scanners as they were unsure regarding their effectiveness.

But the rising number of flu cases in India forced the ministry to install thermal scanners.

Mr. Vineet Choudhary, joint secretary and in-charge of pandemic flu, ministry of health, stated, “We have shortlisted a few companies supplying thermal scanners and a decision will be taken soon.”

‘‘It has been seen that in areas that have high footfalls, the ambient temperature shoots up and the thermal scanner is not able to identify people with high body temperature. But we have recently seen thermal scanners sensitive enough to catch slight changes in temperature,” Mr. Choudhary added.

India has thus far reported 16 cases of the flu, comprising a new case in Hyderabad on Friday. According to WHO, H1N1 virus has spread to 74 countries and a total of 28,774 cases have been reported throughout the world including 144 deaths.