Nine swine flu deaths take India's toll to 675

Apart from Rajasthan, two deaths were also reported from Maharashtra, which tops the list of deaths from the disease in the country with 237 reported since the first fatality Aug 3 in the country.

One death each was reported from the national capital and Uttarakhand.

In the Indian capital, a 52-year-old woman, who was admitted at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, died of swine flu Thursday.

With this, the cumulative death figure in the city has gone up to 36, health officials said.

"On Thursday, a 52-year old woman who was suffering from swine flu died at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. She was admitted in the hospital on Dec 4 and was in a serious condition. She was a diabetic and was also suffering from hypertension," Anjana Prakash, the state's assistant nodal officer for swine flu, told IANS.

According to Prakash, the capital reported 170 new cases of Influenza A (H1N1) Thursday. "Of the 170 new cases on Thursday, 94 were children," Prakash said.

With this, the total number of swine flu cases in Delhi touched 6,769 - the highest in the country.

Prakash also said that with the winter getting severe, the number of swine flu cases may go down.

"While the number of swine flu cases rose with the dipping temperatures, as the mercury level goes further down, we are expecting the number of swine flu cases to drop too. The swine flu virus requires a favourable temperature to flourish and severe winters don't serve that purpose," she said.

New cases were also reported from Rajasthan (73), Maharashtra (28),Uttar Pradesh (21), Haryana (13), Gujarat (13) and Tamil Nadu (12).