Chandigarh, Aug 6 - The union territory of Chandigarh and the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana have stepped up vigil against suspected swine flu cases after the country's first death from influenza A (H1N1).

'We got revised guidelines from the central government Wednesday evening and we called an emergency meeting of our health officials today to deliberate on them. We have formulated a foolproof plan to deal with this menace,' H.C. Gera, Chandigarh's nodal officer for swine flu, told IANS Thursday.

'So far, 44 suspected cases of swine flu have been reported from Chandigarh hospitals and six of them have tested positive. Three suspected cases are admitted in isolated wards. There is no need to panic as we are fully equipped to deal with the situation,' he said.

In Haryana, 155 suspected swine flu cases have been reported and 27 of them have reported positive for influenza A(H1N1) virus.

'Twenty-two of these patients have been discharged from the hospital while five of them are recuperating in a Delhi hospital. These patients had either come from abroad or were in direct contact with already infected persons,' said the Haryana health department spokesperson.