Hyderabad, March 18 (IANS): Swine flu has claimed one more life in Telangana, taking the toll to 74 since January. The number of fresh cases, however, has come down.

The health department reported one death during last 24 hours, while only eight H1N1 positive cases were registered.

According to a bulletin issued by the department on Wednesday, 97 samples were tested on Tuesday and out of them, eight were found positive. This the lowest number in last one week.

The health authorities screened 6,512 samples since January 1 and out of them 2,083 were found positive. Hyderabad and neighbouring Ranga Reddy district accounted for majority of deaths and positive cases.

Officials said enough stocks of medicines and testing kits have been made available at all teaching, district and area hospitals.

The health department has advised people to take all precautions and approach hospital on the first symptoms of swine flu like high fever, sneezing, cough and body pain.