Thirty-nine people have died of swine flu and 167 persons have tested for the H1N1 virus in Madhya Pradesh since the start of this year, state Health Minister Tulsiram Silawat said on February 23.

Officials said the number of swine flu deaths in the first two months of 2019 is higher than those in 2018 which saw 34 deaths. A state government public relations officer further informed that Chief Minister Kamal Nath had asked the health department to open a virology laboratory in Indore to test patients for the H1N1 virus.

Such testing facilities in the state are currently available only in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences-Bhopal and the Indian Council of Medical Research's facility in Jabalpur, he said. "We have taken steps to control the spread of the H1N1 virus. Health committees have been formed at the state and divisional levels for this," Silawat told PTI.