There were also concerns about delayed test results in various places in the country.

The test results of a two-year-old girl in Bhopal, who was the first H1N1 patient in the city and who has already recovered, came only Tuesday evening -- 12 days after her samples were sent for verification.

Doctors at the State Swine Flu Control Room said the girl was admitted to the Gandhi Medical College Hospital Aug 13 with flu-like symptoms and her samples were sent for testing the same day.

'My child is now in good health,' said V.K. Shrivastava, father of the girl, Ananya. 'She was administered medicines for normal fever and cold, and has improved without medicines prescribed for swine flu.'

According to the health ministry, 177 people tested positive for the virus Wednesday, taking the total number of swine flu infections in India to 3,273.

Of the new infections, only one has travel history. The rest appear to have contacted the disease within the country.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 182,166 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide till Aug 21 while 1,799 people have died, mostly in Mexico and the US.