The number of A/H1N1 cases in Japan has reached 144 after 48 more infections were confirmed Monday in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures.

The number may keep rising as many in the region reported symptoms of the new flu.

The Japanese government on Monday convened an emergency task force meeting to discuss countermeasures on the spread of the epidemic.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Taro Aso called on the public to remain calm, saying the Japanese government has no plans to ask citizens to refrain from holding meetings or scale down corporate activity.

The government task force decided not to upgrade its measures aimed at coping with the spread of the new flu from the current phase 2, which refers to an early stage of domestic outbreak, according to Kyodo News.

Tourists wearing masks walk down the street in Osaka May 15, 2009. [Xinhua/Reuters]

 But the country is facing the risk of large-scale outbreak in its populous cities which could lead the WHO to raise its new flu pandemic alert from the current 5 to the highest level of 6, which means community-level outbreaks in two different WHO regions, experts have warned.

The WHO is launching investigation on the situation in Japan.

The newly confirmed domestic cases included high school students, college students, their family members and teachers, as well as bank clerk and people working at a local railway ticketing office.

Nearly all the schools in the two prefectures are closed, as many of the infected are students.

The symptoms among Japanese patients are relatively light compared with those in North America, and none of the 130 people are in critical condition.

In China, health authorities have begun tracing passengers who may have traveled in the same train carriage as a man who was reported Monday to be the mainland's fourth suspected case of A/H1N1 flu.

The man, with the surname Yang, returned to China's mainland on Friday from a tour of the United States and Canada, according to a notice from the Ministry of Health.

Yang returned to the southern coastal province of Guangdong by train Friday afternoon after flying into Hong Kong via the Republic of Korea Wednesday, said a ministry official.

Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Monday that Yang caught Korean Air flight KE020 from Seattle last Tuesday to Seoul, where he transferred to Korean Air flight KE607 to Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Guangdong Provincial Health Department said Monday Yang was admitted to the No. 8 People's Hospital of Guangzhou on Friday afternoon.

Yang, 59, and native of Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, lives in Nanhai, a city in Guangdong. In late April, he joined an independent tour group visiting Canada and the United States.

Yang's itinerary in Canada and the United States, as well as Hong Kong is not immediately known.

According to the Guangdong Provincial Health Department, he developed a sore throat, blocked nose, and coughing on Thursday.

He caught the T810 two-hour train service in Hong Kong at 4:35 p.m. Friday, in carriage No. 7, and returned to Guangzhou.

Yang's temperature tested normal when he boarded the train, bu the developed a fever halfway through the journey. He was taken to the No. 8 People's Hospital for isolation and medical treatment, said the provincial health authorities.

Journalists with facemasks work at the high school where the confirmed A/H1N1 patient studies in Kobe city, Japan, May 16, 2009. [xinhua]

 In India, two persons, a mother and her son, have been admitted to hospital in Coimbatore, South India, for suspected A/H1N1 flu symptoms, local Hindi daily Hindustan reported Monday.

The two arrived from New Jersey, the United States, to the south Indian city of Bangalore three days ago and then they moved to Coimbatore.

Meanwhile, the condition of the person confirmed to have been infected with A/H1N1 flu in Hyderabad, central India, is stable, said Indian health officials.

India has intensified measures to check the disease after one person was confirmed to have contracted the killer flu.

In South Korea, a Vietnamese transit passenger has been quarantined at a South Korean airport and has been isolated as she was showing symptoms similar to those of Influenza A/H1N1, the nation's health authorities said on Monday.

The 22-year-old woman, who arrived from Seattle on Sunday afternoon to travel to Vietnam, is isolated in Incheon International Airport, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and prevention (KCDC).

The KDCD and airline officials conducted in-depth tests on the woman after discussions, an official at the KDCD said, adding that the results of the tests will come later in the evening.

The KDCD, at the same time, is tracing the 101 passengers who were aboard the same airplane as a precautionary measure, the official added.

Since the first report of the influenza A/H1N1 in Mexico last month, South Korea has confirmed three patients infected with the virus, all of them were released from quarantine after being treated with antiviral drugs.

Thailand's Public Health Ministry Monday said the country will focus more on air travelers, who pass Japan prior to arriving in Thailand before Japan on Saturday confirmed the first eight cases of domestic infection of the AH1N1 flu on students of a Kobe high school.

Japan's domestic infection has alerted Thailand to be more careful to curb the AH1N1 flu outbreak since there are many air travelers pass Japan prior to arriving at Thailand, Dr. Suphan Srithamma, a spokesman for the Thai health ministry said on Monday.

Hence, any tourist arrivals of Thailand with passing Japan's airports will be closely monitored by Thai medical staff everywhere they will be in Thailand, said the spokesman.

The spokesman's statement was made after he attended a meeting of the Ministry's center responding to the health crisis on Monday morning.

Since May 12, the Public Health Ministry said the country has had its first two A/H1N1 flu cases, however, the two patients have already recovered and will not spread the deadly flu disease to others. The two persons had returned from Mexico.

According to the World Health Organization, Thailand with having had the confirmed A/H1N1 flu patients ranked 33rd as the country, which has been hit by the deadly new virus.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2009)