'Had we not contacted these 7,000 people and ensured that they were free of the disease, the number of cases might have been seven million so because that is how fast it spreads,' Azad pointed out.

'WHO (World Health Organisation) threw up its hands on July 6. We didn't and are not going to. Today, one day and one month later, we are ahead of everyone in testing and tracing patients,' he maintained.

In this context, he noted that from just two laboratories, the number of testing centres had now gone up to 19.

Responding to a supplementary, Azad said each test cost a minimum of Rs.5,000 while those that returned positive cost Rs.10,000.

'It takes a minimum of six hours for a test to return positive,' he added.

Azad described as 'very sad' the death of Pune schoolgirl Reeda Shaikh, the first swine flu fatality in India, attributing this to 'mistakes on both sides'.

'The girl went to a private practitioner, she was treated and went back to school. Then, she was treated by a second and a third private practitioner before her samples were sent for testing.

'The diagnosis was not done on time. Pune is not a village. If she had been tested on time, she could have been saved,' Azad contended.