CAIRO: The cabinet-affiliated Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) Monday, announced that the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in Egypt has surpassed the 10,000 mark. As of Sunday night, the total number of infections had reached 10,056, including 3,990 schools students (mostly in Cairo, Helwan and Giza) as well as 529 university students. While the death toll hit 109, the number of cured cases was 9,828, which represents 97.7 percent of total infected cases. The IDSC statement refuted online reports of an outbreak in a prison in the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut. "The Ministry of Health denies these claims and assures that there are no A(H1N1) cases discovered in any of the Egyptian prisons, read the government release. As for concerns related to procedures for swine flu patients who will be unable to attend mid-year exams, the statement announced that students in the third and sixth primary and third preparatory will be exempt from mid-year exams and will only be required to take a final exam; while students in other levels of education will sit for make up exams following the midyear holidays. Regarding the availability of the swine flu vaccine and treatment drugs, the IDSC said that 1 million doses of A(H1N1) vaccine have already arrived in Egypt, while 1.6 million doses are expected to arrive by the first half of January. The ministry has also set the price of the imported treatment drug Tamiflu at LE 150 and said that it will be available in pharmacies within the next two weeks. The alternative, locally-packed Tamnel, which the health ministry assures is equally effective, will be sold for LE 70 within the same time frame. Throughout the Middle East, the number of reported infected cases reached 59,111 (till Dec. 26). The number of deaths in the region reached 1,214, mainly concentrated in five countries: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Turkey, and Syria reporting 97, 71, 147, 415, 110 deaths respectively. Internationally, the number of deaths due to A(H1N1) reached 12,211. -Daily News Egypt.
