Health News
Japan to end onboard health check as domestic swine-flu cases rise
May 19, 2009, 8:18 GMT
Tokyo - The number of people infected with the H1N1 influenza virus in Japan rose to 178 Tuesday, but the government decided to end health checks on passengers arriving on flights from North America.
After the first cases of infection were found in high-school students who had never travelled abroad, Japan upgraded its efforts to prevent an outbreak within the country, officials said.
'We have to shift our focus to domestic measures in line with the spread (of the flu),' Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said at a press conference Tuesday. 'From this aspect, we think we need to scale down the operations (to prevent entry of H1N1).'
However, the health checks on planes, which were to end this week, have been productive in keeping the virus at bay, Kawamura insisted.
Japan this month found four infections among passengers returning from North America, the region hardest hit by the H1N1 outbreak, and managed to put the patients in quarantine as soon as they landed.
Japan has seen its number of swine-flu patients rapidly increase in the past 10 days in western Japan as officials said the virus appeared to be spreading domestically.
Local governments in Osaka and Hyogo have closed down more than 4,000 schools while some kiosks at train stations have suspended operations and karaoke establishments are refusing to accept students who are off school.
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