--- title: Swine Flu Outbreak in India Has Already Killed 700 People This Year description: A total of 11,000 people have been infected canonical: https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-20T17:12:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:51.568Z article:section: Health og:title: Swine Flu Outbreak Kills 700 in India og:description: A total of 11,000 people have been infected og:url: https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb02b26fc064c49fc/69878031f887dc20dfe8a356/swine-flu-india.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Students wearing masks to prevent getting infected by Swine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Swine Flu Outbreak Kills 700 in India twitter:description: A total of 11,000 people have been infected twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb02b26fc064c49fc/69878031f887dc20dfe8a356/swine-flu-india.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Swine Flu Outbreak Kills 700 in India ## Video: Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014 [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/laroqNbt.m3u8) (10:47)  _Published 2014-12-10. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and health workers work every day to treat and contain the outbreak in the hot zone_ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 20, 2015 5:12 PM UTC  Students wearing masks to prevent getting infected by Swine flu in Allahabad, India on Feb. 18 2015. Students wearing masks to prevent getting infected by Swine flu in Allahabad, India on Feb. 18 2015.Pacific Press—LightRocket/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 20, 2015 5:12 PM UTC A serious outbreak of H1N1 has struck in India, causing [more than 700 deaths](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/india-struggles-to-contain-h1n1-outbreak-as-death-toll-hits-700) in the last eight weeks. More than 11,000 have been infected with the disease commonly known as swine flu, [Boomberg reports](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/india-struggles-to-contain-h1n1-outbreak-as-death-toll-hits-700). The outbreak is thought to be the worst the country has seen since 2009\. Infections have seemed to gain momentum over the last week, with the total number of cases doubling since Feb. 11. While the government said Thursday that there was plenty of medicine available to treat H1N1, hospitals [have reported shortages](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/india-struggles-to-contain-h1n1-outbreak-as-death-toll-hits-700)—potentially due to individuals stockpiling the drug as the outbreak worsens. \[[_Bloomberg_](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/india-struggles-to-contain-h1n1-outbreak-as-death-toll-hits-700)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/"},"headline":"Swine Flu Outbreak Kills 700 in India","datePublished":"2015-02-20T17:12:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:51.568Z","description":"A total of 11,000 people have been infected","url":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/","keywords":["global health","India"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb02b26fc064c49fc/69878031f887dc20dfe8a356/swine-flu-india.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb02b26fc064c49fc/69878031f887dc20dfe8a356/swine-flu-india.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Students wearing masks to prevent getting infected by Swine","caption":"Students wearing masks to prevent getting infected by Swine","creditText":"Pacific Press—LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/global-health/","name":"global health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/","name":"Swine Flu Outbreak Kills 700 in India"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014","description":"Hundreds of doctors, nurses and health workers work every day to treat and contain the outbreak in the hot zone","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/laroqNbt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-10T11:46:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/laroqNbt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/","duration":"PT10M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3716249/swine-flu-india/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```