Jaipur, March 14 (IANS): Swine flu continued to rage in Rajasthan with the toll in the state this year reaching 371 on Friday, officials said.

"Death toll touched 371 on Friday as 13 more deaths were reported since Wednesday in the state. Out of this, 350 deaths have been reported of people from Rajasthan and 21 who died in the state but were residents of other states," said a medical and health department official.

These deaths have been reported across the state from January 1, 2015.

Similarly, positive cases have increased to 6,153 from 6,093 reported on Wednesday.

The official said that maximum 70 deaths have been reported from Jaipur followed by Ajmer with 41 and Jodhpur at 33.

Ashok Panagariya, head of the state government's task force on swine flu, has directed doctors to start treatment of patients showing swine flu like symptoms at the earliest.

He said that till March 12 screening of over 65 lakh people has been carried out across the state in OPDs of state government hospitals. Over 4 lakh Tamiflu tablets were provided to patients showing symptoms similar to swine flu after the screening.