Lucknow, Aug 13 - Three more cases of swine flu were reported in Uttar Pradesh Thursday, taking the total number of influenza A (H1N1) patients in the state to 19, an official said.

'We had tested about 27 samples, of which three turned out to be positive,' said T.N. Dhole, head of the microbiology department at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), the only authorized swine flu testing centre here.

Meanwhile, 20 fresh samples have arrived at the SGPGIMS laboratory to determine the spread of the dreaded virus.

Testing of these samples had to be put on hold due to non-availability of testing kits, but Dhole said, 'The kits would arrive from Delhi by tomorrow (Friday), so there is no cause to worry.'

Each kit with a capacity of testing 80-90 samples costs about Rs.193,000.

'Thankfully, the state government has sanctioned sufficient funds to purchase enough kits for carrying out at least 1,000 tests,' Dhole said.