New Delhi, Aug 10 - With three more swine flu deaths Monday, taking the total to seven, India geared up to further tackle the spread of the contagious infection by ordering more vaccines and asking qualified private hospitals to come forward to take on patients.

The total swine flu infections now stand at 960 with 95 new cases reported Monday.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Influenza A (H1N1) infection was increasing on a 'vast scale' and at least 30 percent of Indians are likely to get infected by the highly contagious disease.

'We have to prepare for the coming months. Swine flu is increasing on a vast scale, and on the basis of the large population of India it is likely that more swine flu cases will occur, and we should be ready to handle it,' Azad told reporters after holding an almost three-hour-long meeting with senior health ministry officials.

However, he said that India was ahead of other countries in tackling the virus. 'In comparison to many countries India is far ahead in controlling the virus, and in fact one and half months ahead in this direction. We have less than 1,000 cases and the death toll us below 10. But we are trying our best to control it better,' he added.

Azad said that ever since swine flu entered the country almost three months ago, the health ministry found that communication with state governments was a time-consuming affair and they have decided to rope in senior bureaucrats to assist them.

'The cabinet secretary has decided to provide us some joint secretaries and additional secretaries from other ministries who will be rushed to states along with health ministry teams. Around 35 officials will press upon states to identify more government and private laboratories to handle large number of swine flu cases,' he said.

'We have decided to allow private labs to test for H1N1. We have set the guidelines and have sent it to all state governments,' he said. He said those private labs that adhere to these guidelines should inform the states. 'Our people could go and check whether they can do the tests,' he said.

Meanwhile, the infectious virus continued to affect more people with the country reporting 95 more cases - Pune (47), Mumbai (22), Panchgani (6), Delhi (14), Noida (1), Ajmer (1) Gurgaon (1) and Mangalore (3).

Three more people died in the day, taking the toll to seven.