All public schools, malls and cinemas in India's financial capital Mumbai will be closed for a week from Thursday to check the spread of A/H1N1 flu, said Maharashtra state government on Wednesday.

The measure is taken by the state government after 11 people have died of the flu over the past 10 days in the state alone, out of a total of 15 nationwide, said the state government.

Some Mumbai private schools already closed since Wednesday and are not expected to open until Monday next week, said the private Indo-Asian News Service.

A Maharashtra schoolboy died of A/H1N1 flu hours after three others in the Maharashtra state died of the same disease Wednesday morning, reported the news service.

Babu Genu Kuland died in the Sassoon Hospital in Mumbai at about 11:00 AM local time, after being hospitalized for three days in serious condition, becoming the latest fatality of the flu in the country, which saw a sudden rise of infections and deaths since the beginning of this month.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2009)