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TOKYO : Japan confirmed three domestic H1N1 flu infections Saturday, all high school students who had not been abroad, and was testing at least 14 other suspected cases in two cities, officials said.
Health officials were testing five more teenagers from the same school in the western city of Kobe, while another nine school students were considered suspected cases in nearby Osaka city, officials said.
Prime Minister Taro Aso called on Japan's people to stay level-headed and vowed to take steps to prevent a wider outbreak.
"Please act calmly while being on alert," Aso said. "The government will carry out thorough inspections on the patients and on the people close to them. We will take action to stop the infection from spreading."
But former World Health Organisation senior official Shigeru Omi, now head of the government's special H1N1 flu task force, warned that "we believe that the infection is beginning to spread in the region."
Japan on May 9 confirmed its first A(H1N1) cases contracted overseas -- a school teacher and three students who flew to Tokyo from Canada via Detroit -- but immediately quarantined them and other passengers.
All four have since recovered and are either out of hospital or due to leave soon, while another 48 passengers who sat near them on the plane have also been allowed to go home after being isolated in a hotel for one week.
But then on Saturday Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe confirmed that the virus had slipped into Japan, telling a news conference: "Today, the first patient infected with the new-type influenza in the country was confirmed."
Two of the 17-year-old student's schoolmates, one boy and one girl, were also confirmed as positive to the virus in the evening.
"The (three) people have no record of travelling abroad," Masuzoe said.
Seventeen other students from the same school were also being tested after they complained about feeling unwell, local officials said.
Of them, five female students were considered suspected cases, reported Jiji Press quoting officials, adding that nine more people aged between 10 and 19 in nearby Osaka city were also suspected to be infected.
Authorities in Kobe said they would temporarily close at least 75 schools and kindergartens and cancel festivals and other public events in some districts of the city, where fear of an outbreak was growing rapidly.
"It's totally beyond our imagination," said Seiichi Sakurai, of the city's health and welfare bureau. "The virus entered the country undetected. I'm afraid the infection may have already spread further."
Reiko Hamuro, a 42-year-old transport company employee from Kobe, told AFP: "All of a sudden, people started wearing masks today. It's scary because the cases came without any warning signs. I will try to avoid crowds."
- AFP /ls
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