Even as the deadly swine flu reached the 1,000 mark with 40 more people succumbing to the H1N1 virus while the number of those affected crossed 18,000 on Friday, the Government has admitted to shortage of laboratories for testing the H1N1 virus.

However, it said that efforts were being made to set up such facilities in every State. According to the Health Ministry, the total number of deaths due to swine flu has reached 1,005, while the number of those affected was 18,105 till Thursday.

“We have 21 laboratories for testing swine flu. But that is not enough. We are planning to set up H1N1 testing laboratories in every State of the country and financial provisions are being made for it,” Health Minister JP Nadda told the lok Sabha while responding to questions.

The Minister insisted that there was no shortage of medicine to treat swine flu (H1N1) affected people and it is available in Government hospitals and dispensaries free of cost. The Health Ministry had started taking initiatives with the onset of winter when the H1N1 virus starts getting active, he said.

“We had made arrangements for doctors, medicines, testing facilities, isolation wards in November with the active support of the State Governments,” the Minister said.

Nadda said he has personally spoken to several Chief Ministers, including Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Bihar and taken stock of the situation. He said even if a person takes swine flu vaccine, it is not foolproof and personal protection like mask and cleanliness have to be taken.

Nadda said the swine flu symptoms like mild fever, cough etc are very common but medicine must be taken immediately once the disease is suspected, without waiting for the test results.

In Uttar Pradesh, 73 new cases of swine flu were reported in the past 48 hours taking the total number of people affected from the contagious disease to 522 while in Telengana, two more deaths and 27 new cases of swine flu have been reported. The virus has claimed 56 lives and infected 1,412 people in the State. The number of deaths in Gujarat till Thursday was 256, while 3,950 were affected.

While Madhya Pradesh reported 143 deaths due to swine flu, 125 died in Maharashtra. In Delhi, the number of deaths stood at 10, while 2,708 people have been affected. In Rajasthan, swine flu toll is 251 and 5,262 patients are reeling under the viral disease.