Japan logs first drop in influenza cases in 3 months

Tokyo [Japan], November 18: The average number of influenza patients per regularly monitored medical institution in Japan this week came to 17.35, down by 3.78 from a week earlier, marking its first week-on-week decline in about three months, the health ministry has said.
About 5,000 such designated facilities across the country reported 85,766 cases in the week through Sunday, with the per-institution count dropping week on week for the first time since the week starting Aug. 14, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said on Friday.
The estimated number of patients nationwide for the week leading up to Sunday is 635,000, a decline of 98,000 from the previous seven-day period, it added.
Kazuhiro Tateda, a professor at Toho University's Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said that health officials need to monitor the situation for several weeks to determine whether case counts will continue to fall and stabilize at lower levels or start rising again.
Source: Xinhua