Swine flu: Japan closes 4000 schools

Japan closed more than 4000 schools and kindergartens, double the previous day's number, to slow the spread of swine flu which has infected 163 people in the country.

Many people in the affected urban areas were wearing face masks after the western cities of Kobe and Osaka became the first in Japan to suffer domestic outbreaks of the (A)H1N1 virus which spread rapidly through two schools.