India on Saturday reported four cases of suspected influenza A/H1N1 cases and all the four have been quarantined in the same hospital in New Delhi, said local health officials and media reports.

A 25-year-old youth who arrived in the country last month has been admitted to a city hospital with possible symptoms of the condition, a senior Indian Health Ministry official said.

"The youth, whose name has been withheld, was recently in the United States where he may have developed symptoms of H1N1 flu that has rocked the world. He has been kept under observation at the well-known Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

The Medical Head of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital N.K. Chaturevedi told the media that the person, who stayed in New Delhi's satellite city of Ghaziabad, got admitted to the hospital last evening with influenza A/H1N1 symptoms only after getting to know about the condition from the media coverage.

"The man landed in Delhi on April 19 and had fever for two days on April 24. Subsequently, he became symptomatic. We have kept him under observation in the isolation ward. As of now there are no direct symptoms of flu and he may develop some antibodies," he said.

Indian Health Ministry is learnt to have construed a special panel to look into the case.

Meanwhile, three passengers, two flying in from Chicago and one from London, have also been quarantined by Indian authorities at New Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for classical symptoms of influenza A/H1N1 infection, reported the local newspaper Times of India electronic edition on Saturday.

All the three were suffering from cough, cold, fever and upper respiratory infection, said the report.

Moreover, the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday reported deaths of 1,200 pigs and 500 goats and poultry across Jalgaon district, in a suspected influenza A/H1N1 outbreak among animals, a senior Indian Health Ministry official said.

"Vets are yet to ascertain the exact cause of deaths but we are not ruling out swine flu. The animals may also have succumbed to heat wave. We will soon find that out. Two villages in the district are the most affected," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

He said that villagers have reported that the animals showed symptoms of fever before they died.

"But nothing is clear till now. A team from state capital Mumbai is on its way to probe the deaths," he said.

Indian Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss was not available for comment as he was busy campaigning for the country's ongoing elections.

"The Minister is abreast with the situation," his spokesperson told the media.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2009)