Japan confirms dozens more swine flu cases

OSAKA – Japan confirmed dozens more swine flu cases overnight bringing its tally to 176, health officials said yesterday, as the government considered scaling down quarantine checks at airports while focusing on its domestic outbreak.

The outbreak in Japan surged from just four cases over the weekend after infections were confirmed in the port city of Kobe and nearby Osaka, which is Japan’s second-biggest urban area. The 41 added to the list overnight included high school students and small children as the outbreak jumped to three more cities in the region.The new wave of infections did not have a clear connection to foreign travel, as the initial one did, and involved primarily teenagers. None of the patients were in serious condition.However, the government said it would do its best to quell the spread of the disease, and keep schools shut at least through the end of the week. Companies discouraged unnecessary business trips, and schools have cancelled excursions. Visitors to parliament and other government offices have been asked to wear surgical masks and rub their hands with disinfectant gel before entry.Reports said dozens of the students had played in school volleyball games, but officials could not confirm if that had any relation to their infections.Experts also suspect that a domestic outbreak may have been triggered silently weeks before Japan caught its first cases at its main airport in early May.Japan now ranks the fourth-most infected country in the world, after Mexico, the United States and Canada.All 4 043 schools in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures were closed yesterday. Health officials have warned that the new H1N1 swine flu virus could eventually infect millions of people. The World Health Organisation has confirmed at least 8,829 human cases of swine flu in nearly 40 countries, including 76 known deaths. – Nampa-AP