The government on Tuesday raised the H1N1 flu alert to the highest level but decided not to close schools. The Defense Ministry said it is reviewing plans to temporarily halt or delay leave or nights out for soldiers and carrying out reserve force training.

"We raised the flu alert to minimize damage during November, as the spread of the H1N1 virus is expected to reach its peak at the end of November," said Park Ha-jeong, the head of public health policy at the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs. "Since we've already been carrying out prevention as rigorously as if we were at the highest alert level, there will not be whole lot of change in people's everyday lives."

By mobilizing military medical personnel, the health ministry hopes to complete school vaccinations within four to five weeks, instead of six weeks as originally planned, and allow injection of the anti-virus drug Peramivir, which is easier to use than Tamiflu, for emergency cases in December.