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Japan reports 193 A(H1N1) flu cases

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-20 00:03

KOBE, Japan -- Japan reported 193 A(H1N1) flu infections Tuesday and closed more than 4,400 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus, officials and reports said.

Japanese junior high-school students wear face masks as they visit the parliament in Tokyo May 19, 2009. [Agencies]

Experts warned that infections had probably already spread to other regions including the capital Tokyo, which with almost 36 million people is the world's most populous urban area and the heart of the Japanese economy.

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"The virus's spread to Tokyo is near certain, and it would be little wonder if the virus had already landed in Tokyo undetected," said Yukihiro Nishiyama, a virologist at Nagoya University in central Japan.

"Of course, there is no need to overreact, but authorities and people in the capital should go ahead with their preparation," Nishiyama said.

Visitors to many public places, from the parliamentary visitors' gallery to the national sumo tournament in Tokyo, have been asked to disinfect their hands on entry, wear surgical face masks, or both.

Japan's first domestic cases of the A(H1N1) virus were confirmed Saturday in the western cities of Kobe and Osaka, where they spread quickly in and between two high schools that had met for a volleyball tournament.

Hundreds have since been tested for the virus, and face masks have become ubiquitous on subways and in shopping centres of the affected prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo in the central region of the main island of Honshu.

Nagoya-based mask maker Kowa Co. reported sales turnover in mid-May has been 40 times higher than in the same month last year, a news report said.

The government has urged calm and reminded people that no one in Japan has so far died of the disease and that most infections are mild.

A total of 4,432 kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities were closed for at least this week in the two prefectures at the request of the government, up from some 2,000 Monday, an education ministry official said.

Neighbouring Kyoto, Nara, Okayama and Wakayama prefectures closed 32 schools voluntarily.

Japan's number of confirmed cases rose to 193, the fourth largest national figure on the world infection table, Kyodo news agency reported late Tuesday.

With the breakout of domestic infections, the health minister said the government would shift focus from quarantine control at airports to efforts to contain the further spread of the virus and to treat patients in the country.

"It does not mean that we will end the quarantine control effort completely, but we will scale it down," said Yoichi Masuzoe.

Japan's first confirmed cases of A(H1N1) flu were four people who tested positive after they flew in from North America earlier this month. They were immediately quarantined along with about 50 fellow passengers.

Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said the government was ready to take action to fend off the possible impact of the outbreak on the Japanese economy, already battered by the worst recession since World War II.

"Economies obviously declined, although temporarily, when a bird flu outbreak occurred," Yosano told reporters. "We have to consider measures to limit the effect."

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