Lucknow, Aug 20 - Twelve fresh cases of swine flu were reported in Uttar Pradesh Thursday, prompting the health department to ask the central government for more Tamiflu tablets. The total number of swine flu patients in the state is now 45.

'We had received 85 samples out of which 12 tested positive today (Thursday),' T.N.Dhole, the head of the microbiology department in the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), told IANS here.

Nearly 90 percent of the cases were reported from Lucknow, the state capital.

Lucknow's Chief Medical Officer A.K. Shukla however claimed most of the positive cases were of those who had come to the city from affected places like Pune or abroad.