The week that ended Oct. 24 saw more than 1 million people come down with the new H1N1 influenza, the highest number of new cases since the virus was first reported in Japan, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Oct. 30.

Swine flu vaccinations were meanwhile started in 20 prefectures as of Nov. 2, targeting people other than medical workers deemed at high risk of catching the disease.

The estimated number of new patients, most of whom are believed to be infected with the H1N1 strain, was 1.14 million, up from 830,000 the week before, bringing the cumulative total to 4.31 million since early July, when the weekly tally began to rise as the epidemic took hold.

The number of flu patients reported during the week by roughly 5,000 designated medical institutions jumped to 118,570 from 84,976 the week before.