The number of infections of swine flu confirmed in Japan rose to 445 on Monday, including four schoolchildren in Fukuoka — one at a junior high school and three others at an elementary school — who have tested positive for the new H1N1 virus.

Twelve other students at the two schools had earlier come down with swine flu.

Also on Monday, six people in Chiba Prefecture, two in Hyogo and one in Tokyo were confirmed infected with the H1N1 virus.