Japan confirmed its first cases of swine flu Saturday in three people who recently returned from Canada, even as the disease’s spread appeared to slow in the rest of the world.
Health and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said the three Japanese were quarantined upon arrival in Tokyo after testing positive in preliminary checks performed on all travelers flying from countries hit by the virus.
The three – a high school teacher in his 40s and two teenage boys – had been on a school trip to Canada. They were isolated and recovering at a hospital near Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, officials said.
“I ask the people to stay calm,” Mr. Masuzoe told a hastily called news conference televised live on national news.
The virus, which began its global spread from Mexico, has now been found in 30 countries, killed at least 47 people and sickened more than 3,100 worldwide.
The three were among about 390 passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit that arrived Friday.
The Japanese government has been collecting information and addresses on people returning from abroad to monitor possible illnesses.
It has also been sending in teams of hundreds of masked doctors to the nation’s major airports to check passengers for signs of the illness.
But Masuzoe acknowledged it was unclear how effective his ministry would be in tracking the other passengers on that flight from Detroit because it included a number of tourists and non-Japanese whose personal information wasn’t available.
“There are limitations to what we can do, but we will continue to monitor the situation and strengthen or relax such measures as needed,” he told reporters.
Public broadcaster NHK TV urged people who were aboard the flight to call a special telephone number for consultations. So far, 49 have been traced and taken to a facility near the airport to be monitored for 10 days, officials said.
The three diagnosed with the new flu strain had visited Canada’s Ontario province on a homestay program with about 30 other students, taking part in various programs hosted by a local high school in the town of Oakville since April 24.
A lab at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases confirmed they had swine flu.
Japan had previously been free of swine flu while the virus spread to several countries in Asia, including Hong Kong and South Korea.
Australia also confirmed its first case of swine flu on Saturday, but the woman is no longer infectious and has a weak strain the virus, the health minister said.
Test results on the woman in her 20s from New South Wales state came back positive Saturday from the World Health Organization laboratory in Melbourne, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told reporters.
The woman, who was not named, first noticed symptoms on April 27 while in the United States but got better before returning to Brisbane in Queensland state on Thursday, Roxon said.
“She has recovered. She is doing well and she is of no risk to anyone in the community or to herself,” said Dr. Jeannette Young, Queensland’s chief health officer.
Eighteen people in Australia are still awaiting test results to determine if they have swine flu.
