The government says it will do all it can to protect the public from H1N1 influenza.

The heads of related ministries issued a joint statement Tuesday urging people not to lose trust in the government and to continue to place the utmost importance on personal hygiene to prevent infection.

The government said in the statement that although the H1N1 virus is highly contagious, the fatality rate is relatively similar to that of regular seasonal influenza viruses.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology says it will revise rules to make it easier for schools to be temporarily closed in order to slow any potential spreads of the new flu. The ministry will also devise specialized health measures for the upcoming college scholastic aptitude test.

Meanwhile, the government said most pharmacies nationwide will be able to fill prescriptions for antiviral medicine such as Tamiflu and Relenza starting October 30th.

A daily average of some four-thousand new cases of H1N1 was reported last week and over 870 schools had group outbreaks.

[Photo : ]