Back to books for Swine-flu Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who tested positive for swine flu yesterday has been isolated at his official home in Gandhinagar. The seven-day isolation, Modi believes, is a good time to catch up on his reading.

Doctors attending on him said today that the Gujarat CM's healthu00a0has improved overnight.

"His temperature has started coming down and cold and cough is also improving," virologist Atul Patel, one of the five doctors treating Modi, said.

"There is no cause of worry as the health of chief minister has relatively improved and he is responding to treatment," Patel said in a medical bulletin released here after examining Modi this morning.

Yesterday, he gave his personal manager a list of books that he wanted to read. Most of them are in English and about Modi's favourite subjects philosophy and self- development.

Under the weather

Modi, who returned from his four-day visit to Russia on Wednesday, had been feeling tired and also had a cold.
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So, on Thursday morning, he asked Dr Bharat Patel, a surgeon at Gandhinagar Civil Hospital, to get him tested for swine flu. "The disease is still in the early stages," said Patel.

The CM had gone to Russia at the head of a business delegation to attend the fourth International Energy Week at the World Trade Centre in Moscow.
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Government doctors are not hazarding a guess on whether the chief minister contracted the virus within the state or during his Russia visit.

So far, 40 people have died of swine flu in Gujarat and 465 in India.

More The Merrier

The industrialists who accompanied Modi to Russia were Sudhir Mehta, chairman, Torrent Group; Pranav Adani, MD, Adani Wilmar Group; Nitin Shukla, CEO, Shell Hazira; Hari Bhartiya of Jubilant; Nikhil Merchant, chairman, Swan Group; Jayesh Buch, executive director of Essar Group.

D Rajgopalan, chief secretary of Gujarat; S Jagadeeshan, principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals; and D J Pandian, managing director, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation also went along. They are also under the swine flu scanner.