New Delhi, June 29: Diagnosis of the new H1N1 influenza within eight hours will be possible at 16 new laboratories across India from July 1, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced today.

The National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Calcutta, is among the 16 laboratories that will begin to accept nasal and throat swab samples that until now could only be sent to two laboratories in New Delhi and Pune.

Microbiologists in the 16 laboratories have been trained to diagnose H1N1 and the laboratories will become operational from July 1, Azad said. Sources said the move will save several hours in diagnosis.

“Samples are currently sent to New Delhi or Pune via air cargo and the transit time itself takes up four to six hours. This includes an hour or so that it takes to shift the sample from cargo to the laboratory,” a source said.

The other laboratories are at Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh, Christian Medical College, Vellore, and other institutions in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kasauli, Lucknow, Manipal, Mumbai, New Delhi, Puducherry and Shimla. The activation of diagnosis is part of a plan to prepare the country for an increasing number of H1N1 infections.

India has detected 104 patients infected with the H1N1 pandemic virus.