Parliament decided to assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation by developing a timetable for the completion of the procedures for the disposal of pigs within a week at most, with the recommendation of the application of the emergency law on those non-compliant after the declaration that Egypt is free of pigs. This comes within the framework of the national campaign for the prevention of swine flu and the emergence of new cases of the disease in the district of Alzamalik, Cairo. Official sources said the Directorate of Veterinary Medicine in Helwan governorate confirmed that the statistics of the numbers exceed the official figure of pigs at the Ministries of Agriculture and the environment which reached 156 thousand pigs, pointing out that the total number is above 350 thousand. The sources pointed out that the government has ignored the real figure of the number of pigs, and announced a figure less than the real one for fear of turning the global public opinion against Egypt in light of the high rates in the execution of pigs, which is tarnishing Egypt's reputation at an international level. For his part, Dr. Hamed Samaha Chairman of the General Authority for Veterinary Services confirmed the completion of the disposal of 1,116 pigs in Kattamia. He clarified that they slaughtered 146 pigs fit for human consumption and the elimination of 970 pigs after their slaughter and those pigs "under the age of five months or pregnant females." He pointed out that the pig owners were not cooperating with government agencies. Official sources at the General Authority for Veterinary Services said that Pope Shenouda, Pope of Alexandria, expressed his reservation on the decision to execute the pigs. Along with demands from the church to stop slaughtering and killing of all the pigs and to keep them in order to use their offspring in the future, after the resumption of pig breeding, according to the requirements set by the Government for the breeding of pigs. They pointed out that the Church asked businessman Hany Aziz, to mediate with the government to solve this problem and stop the slaughter.
