In its official statement released on Friday, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the swine flu death toll in India has risen to 967, with at least 13 more deaths reported by different states in the last few days.

Out of the recently-reported fatal influenza A (H1N1) cases, three deaths each were reported Uttarakhand and Maharashtra; two each in Delhi and Karnataka; and one each in Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Most of these deaths were reported by the health authorities of the concerned states.

With the inclusion of the recent deaths, the maximum number swine flu deaths have been reported in Maharashtra, its tally now being 268; followed by 151 deaths in Rajasthan; 131 in Karnataka;
117 in Gujarat; and 72 in Delhi. Meanwhile, the least number of H1N1 fatalities has been reported in Assam and Mizoram - both have which have reported one death each.

The Ministry statement also revealed that the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus reported thus far in India has touched 26,039, with as many as 127 new cases of swine flu being reported from different parts of India.

Of the newly-reported cases, Delhi has reported 55 cases; Gujarat 24; Maharashtra 13; Haryana 8; Rajasthan and Karnataka 7 each; Jammu & Kashmir 5; Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry 2 each; and Punjab, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu 1 each.