Japan confirmed its first domestic infection of swine flu yesterday after a male high school student who has never been abroad tested positive for the virus.
“Today, the first patient infected with the new-type influenza in the country was confirmed,” Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a news conference.
Two of the student’s schoolmates had also tested positive for swine flu in an initial genetic examination, which was being followed up by further tests, government officials said.
“The [three] people have no record of traveling abroad,” Masuzoe said, adding that the students had been isolated and were being treated in a hospital in the western city of Kobe.
Authorities in Kobe decided to 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.
Saturday’s confirmed case is the first infection known to have taken place within the country.
Earlier this month, Japan confirmed its first A (H1N1) cases — a school teacher and three students who arrived at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport from North America and were quarantined.
Meanwhile, Malaysia confirmed its second case of swine flu yesterday — a female student who was on the same flight as a 21-year-old man whom authorities a day earlier announced had tested positive.
“Malaysia has a second case of the A (H1N1) influenza, which was confirmed by the Institute of Medical Research this morning,” the health ministry’s deputy director general Ramlee Rahmat said.
India confirmed its first case of the H1N1 flu in the southern city of Hyderabad yesterday.
“He is an Indian. He was identified at the screening at the airport and was quarantined, and his samples were drawn and they have tested positive,” said Vineet Choudhary, joint secretary of the health ministry.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS