ID :
61044
Mon, 05/18/2009 - 12:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/61044
The shortlink copeid
Japan confirms 34 more new flu cases, total domestic infections at 42
TOKYO, May 17 Kyodo -
The number of cases of domestic new flu infections in Japan hit 42 on Sunday
after a total of 34 high school and college students as well as their family
members and teachers in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures were confirmed to have been
infected with the new strain of influenza A.
The confirmations followed the discovery Saturday of Japan's first eight
domestic infections of new flu in Hyogo, which adjoins Osaka. A World Health
Organization expert said community-level transmission may have begun in Japan,
which could lead the WHO to raise its new flu pandemic alert to the highest
level of 6 from the current 5.
In response to the latest development, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura
told reporters, ''We need to be fully prepared to prevent the further spread of
infections.''
Of the 34 newly confirmed infections, 11 were detected in Osaka and 23 in
Hyogo. Local authorities said more than 1,000 kindergartens, and elementary,
junior and senior high schools in the two prefectures have decided to suspend
classes for certain periods following the confirmation of new flu infections.
Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto convened a meeting of a new flu task force on Sunday
and decided to ask facilities such as movie theaters to suspend operations to
prevent the spread of the flu.
Railway, supermarket and convenience store employees in Hyogo, Osaka and Kyoto
started wearing masks in line with instructions from their companies. Some
retailers told high school and college students who work part-time not to come
to work for a while.
In Ibaraki city in Osaka and Kobe, where many new flu infections were
confirmed, anxious consumers rushed to drug stores and medical masks sold out
at a number of shops.
Asics Corp., a sports and leisure products manufacturer based in Kobe, decided
to allow its employees to avoid commuting to and from work during rush hours
and to exempt those who cannot leave their children or aged family members due
to the closure of daycare and nursing facilities from coming to work.
The 34 infections exclude four cases discovered during onboard quarantine
inspections at Narita International Airport among a group of Japanese students
and teachers who flew home from the United States after a trip to Canada.
Of the four, two students and a teacher have been declared free of the flu and
have been discharged from hospitals.
The local authorities in Osaka said the 11 new cases detected in the prefecture
were connected to Kansai Okura Senior High School in the city of Ibaraki and
none of the students had traveled overseas recently.
A total of 143 Okura high school students had been absent from the school this
month due to flu-like symptoms such as fever. The privately run school said it
will be closed from Monday through Saturday.
Many newly confirmed cases in Hyogo were linked to Kobe High School and Hyogo
High School run by the prefecture. Experts suspect group infections at the
schools in Osaka and Hyogo.
On Saturday, the government shifted its new flu action program from ''a period
of overseas outbreak'' to ''an early period of domestic outbreak'' and called
for companies and schools in the areas concerned to allow individuals to avoid
commuting during rush hours.
Commenting on the discovery of the first domestic infections in Japan, Masato
Tashiro, chief of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases' influenza
virus research laboratory, said that several hundred people in Japan may
already be infected with the H1N1 strain of influenza A.
Tashiro, a member of a WHO emergency committee, told reporters at the
organization's headquarters in Geneva on Saturday that it is still unknown how
the new flu virus entered Japan and that the infections in the country could
amount to sustained human-to-human transmission in communities.
The WHO upgraded its flu pandemic alert level to phase 4 on April 27 and phase
5 on April 29, following the confirmation of widespread infections and deaths
in North America. The highest stage of phase 6 refers to community-level
outbreaks in two different WHO regions.
==Kyodo
The number of cases of domestic new flu infections in Japan hit 42 on Sunday
after a total of 34 high school and college students as well as their family
members and teachers in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures were confirmed to have been
infected with the new strain of influenza A.
The confirmations followed the discovery Saturday of Japan's first eight
domestic infections of new flu in Hyogo, which adjoins Osaka. A World Health
Organization expert said community-level transmission may have begun in Japan,
which could lead the WHO to raise its new flu pandemic alert to the highest
level of 6 from the current 5.
In response to the latest development, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura
told reporters, ''We need to be fully prepared to prevent the further spread of
infections.''
Of the 34 newly confirmed infections, 11 were detected in Osaka and 23 in
Hyogo. Local authorities said more than 1,000 kindergartens, and elementary,
junior and senior high schools in the two prefectures have decided to suspend
classes for certain periods following the confirmation of new flu infections.
Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto convened a meeting of a new flu task force on Sunday
and decided to ask facilities such as movie theaters to suspend operations to
prevent the spread of the flu.
Railway, supermarket and convenience store employees in Hyogo, Osaka and Kyoto
started wearing masks in line with instructions from their companies. Some
retailers told high school and college students who work part-time not to come
to work for a while.
In Ibaraki city in Osaka and Kobe, where many new flu infections were
confirmed, anxious consumers rushed to drug stores and medical masks sold out
at a number of shops.
Asics Corp., a sports and leisure products manufacturer based in Kobe, decided
to allow its employees to avoid commuting to and from work during rush hours
and to exempt those who cannot leave their children or aged family members due
to the closure of daycare and nursing facilities from coming to work.
The 34 infections exclude four cases discovered during onboard quarantine
inspections at Narita International Airport among a group of Japanese students
and teachers who flew home from the United States after a trip to Canada.
Of the four, two students and a teacher have been declared free of the flu and
have been discharged from hospitals.
The local authorities in Osaka said the 11 new cases detected in the prefecture
were connected to Kansai Okura Senior High School in the city of Ibaraki and
none of the students had traveled overseas recently.
A total of 143 Okura high school students had been absent from the school this
month due to flu-like symptoms such as fever. The privately run school said it
will be closed from Monday through Saturday.
Many newly confirmed cases in Hyogo were linked to Kobe High School and Hyogo
High School run by the prefecture. Experts suspect group infections at the
schools in Osaka and Hyogo.
On Saturday, the government shifted its new flu action program from ''a period
of overseas outbreak'' to ''an early period of domestic outbreak'' and called
for companies and schools in the areas concerned to allow individuals to avoid
commuting during rush hours.
Commenting on the discovery of the first domestic infections in Japan, Masato
Tashiro, chief of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases' influenza
virus research laboratory, said that several hundred people in Japan may
already be infected with the H1N1 strain of influenza A.
Tashiro, a member of a WHO emergency committee, told reporters at the
organization's headquarters in Geneva on Saturday that it is still unknown how
the new flu virus entered Japan and that the infections in the country could
amount to sustained human-to-human transmission in communities.
The WHO upgraded its flu pandemic alert level to phase 4 on April 27 and phase
5 on April 29, following the confirmation of widespread infections and deaths
in North America. The highest stage of phase 6 refers to community-level
outbreaks in two different WHO regions.
==Kyodo
