China has more flu cases; Japan schools re-open

(ChinaPost.com.tw) – Schools in western Japan were re-opening their doors on Monday as the number of new H1N1 flu infections leveled off but China, Australia and South Korea announced a rise in their numbers of confirmed cases.

The H1N1 swine flu has infected more than 12,000 people in 43 countries and killed 86 according to the World Health Organization, which is poised to declare a full pandemic of the virus.

WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan said on Friday the world had to be ready for H1N1 flu to become more severe and kill more people.

Japan’s Health Ministry had confirmed 343 cases of the new flu as of late on Sunday. About 4,500 schools closed last week as the virus spread, mostly among teenagers in the western prefectures of Osaka and Hyogo.

Japan is the worst-affected country in Asia in terms of the spread of the new H1N1 swine flu virus.

But the government had relaxed some of its regulations on dealing with the new strain of flu last week, concerned that they would harm the already ailing economy.

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