Infections of A/H1N1 flu rise to 281 in Japan

During a budget committee session at the upper house, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said that the A/H1N1 influenza has been "substantially widespread" in Japan. The government will follow the ever-changing situation and try to strike a balance between the need for anti-epidemic measures and avoiding strains on people's lives, he said. On Wednesday, two school girls were confirmed to be infected with the new flu in Tokyo, becoming the first cases outside the Kansai region. The Tokyo metropolitan government has instructed three high schools to keep nine students and teachers, who were in New York with the two infected girls, from attending school, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version.