OSAKA — It was back-to-school day Monday for the majority of students at 4,400 schools in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures after being kept home for a week by the outbreak of swine flu.

As of Monday afternoon, 346 people, mostly junior high and high school students in the Kansai region, were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Local schools, which announced early last week they would close until Monday or Tuesday, reopened with a sense of relief as the health ministry announced the number of new infections peaked last week and local governments reported many people who fell ill had recovered by the weekend.