Tourism minister says gov't should declare end of flu outbreak in Japan

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TOKYO, June 5 Kyodo -
Tourism Minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko requested Friday that the government declare
an end of the outbreak of a new influenza strain in Japan amid an outcry from
the nation's tourism industry, which has been hit by a raft of cancellations of
school excursions and other trips, mainly in western Japan.
However, some of his fellow Cabinet ministers, including Chief Cabinet
Secretary Takeo Kawamura, and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi
Masuzoe, appeared negative toward making such a declaration soon.
Kaneko, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, made the
request to Kawamura and Masuzoe during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.
Responding to Kaneko's request, Kawamura said at a press conference, ''I don't
think we've come to the point where we can declare an end to the outbreak, but
I have no doubt we're heading in that direction.''
''We're now seeing fewer numbers of large outbreaks,'' the top government
spokesman said, while adding that Japan will need coordination with other
countries that have also been hit by the flu, in order to declare the outbreak
over.
Masuzoe told reporters that the World Health Organization is studying whether
it should upgrade its pandemic-alert level to the highest phase 6 from the
current 5, so the Japanese government needs to be careful about altering its
own response to the H1N1 strain of influenza A.
Kyoto Gov. Keiji Yamada petitioned the tourism ministry Wednesday for action
against the sharp plunge in tourism revenues weighing on the economy of the
western Japan region, which has seen a large number of influenza infections.
Some local governments in the region, including the city of Kyoto and Hyogo
Prefecture, have declared an end to the outbreak in their communities.
The total number of infections of new flu in Japan rose to 413 on Friday.
==Kyodo
2009-06-05 22:14:03