Four fresh swine flu cases were reported from Meghalaya, raising the total number of affected persons in the state to five.

While confirming the development, a health department official in Shillong said, "Three of the four new patients, whose throat swab sample have tested positive, are suspected to have contracted the flu from Silvit Tongper, a 17-year-old footballer who was the first one to test positive in Shillong."

Notably, the first swine flu victim named Silvit Tongper was hospitalized at Shillong Civil Hospital after he showed symptoms of flu on August 8.

Tongper had returned to the state on August 3 from UK.

Meanwhile, the state health authorities are trying their best to map out all persons who were in direct contact with the boy and make certain that they underwent screening.

Moreover, as a precautionary measure, the state government had issued an advisory asking its people to avoid traveling to swine-flu affected places.

The north-eastern state had already asked the union government to set up a diagnostic centre for testing the H1N1 virus in the North-East.