New Delhi: The union health ministry Friday reviewed the swine flu situation in various states, including Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.

The meeting was chaired by additional secretary in the health ministry, A.K. Panda and attended by senior health officials of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, an official release said.

The situation was reviewed in terms of adequacy of isolation wards, medicines, personal protective equipment (PPE) and consumables such as masks, the release added.

The institutional preparedness of the states regarding sufficiency of testing labs and testing kits was also reviewed along with the measures taken to spread awareness among the masses for the preventive steps to be adopted.

The states were asked to indicate whether any assistance was needed to augment their stock of medicines, PPE and testing kits.

Clarification was offered on certain technical issues raised by some states in terms of categorization of the patients, screening and medical intervention.

The release said that most of the states have reported adequate stock of medicine along with syrup for children, and masks.

The ministry has advised for inter-state transfer of drugs to states such as Punjab and Madhya Pradesh from states which have adequate stock of the drug, to augment their supply.

PPE and testing kits will be supplied immediately from National Centre for Disease Control to states which have requisitioned them. Specialist doctors will be sent to Rajasthan to assist them in treatment of patients in critical care.

The health ministry has also advised the states to constantly monitor the situation.

More than 200 people have lost their lives to swine flu till Feb 2.

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Ahmedabad: With the death of four more persons, the number of swine flu deaths in Gujarat in the new year reached 66 Friday.

Today's deaths were reported from Kutch (one), Vadodara (two) and Rajkot (one) districts. Also, 73 new swine flu cases were reported, taking the total number of positive cases to 557, a state government statement said.

Health commissioner J P Gupta said that about 200 patients have been cured out of the 557.

Kutch district, the worst-affected, today reported another 20 cases. So far the district has had 189 positive cases and 23 deaths due to the H1N1 virus infection.

Ahmedabad district has had 99 cases, including 12 deaths.

The state health department statement said that 500 beds and 236 isolation wards with ventilators had been kept reserved for swine flu patients at various hospitals in the state; if needed, 300 more beds will be provided.

State had enough stock of medicines and order had been placed for 1,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine, the statement said.

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Hyderabad: Two more persons have succumbed to swine flu in Telangana taking the number of deaths due to the H1N1 virus this year to 41, the state government said today.

"From January 1 to February 5, 2,212 samples were tested, of which 738 were found to be positive," an official release said.

It said 89 samples were tested yesterday and 20 were found positive for the H1N1 virus.

However, the intensity of the spread of the disease is falling over the last six days.

"The figures are 45, 35, 39, 18, 32 and 20," it said.

The state government has said that enough medicines are available at the hospitals.

"There are enough testing kits for viral transport medium (VTM)," the release said.

Homoeopathy doctors have advised that homeo medicine can also be taken as a preventive measure under guidance of homoeopathy doctors.

Medicines are available free of cost at Government Homeo Hospital, Ramanthapur and all AYUSH dispensaries.

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