A new person has tested positive for swine flu in Egypt, bringing the number of reported infections to 33. While there have been fears over the transmission of plague from Libya, Egypt is threatened by the migration of locusts from the borders between Ethiopia and Somalia. Abdel Rahman Shahin, the Ministry of Health Spokesman, said the new case, 6-year-old Egyptian-American child, came from the United States with his family on board the French airlines. He arrived at Cairo International Airport on June 18.
In addition, four suspected people coming from abroad have been referred to the Fever Hospital. A cook from Gharbia governorate, who was working in a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, died yesterday. This caused panic among the people, who thought that he died of swine flu. The guest of Sofitel Le Sphinx Cairo hotel, in which a man was infected with swine flu, returned back to normality. The hotel's security chief denied that the hotel or its guests have been quarantined.
On the other hand, geographers and veterinarians warned that the long Egyptian-Libyan borders increases the possibility of the transmission of plague from Libya, as the state could not stop the human and pastoral movements between the two sides. They called for a national campaign to cut the communication link between the two sides by using pesticides. In another context, the Ethiopian Committee on Combating Desert Locusts decided to hold a weekly meeting every Tuesday to follow up and prevent the movement of desert locusts from Somalia to Ethiopia. This comes within the framework of advanced steps to contain the threat and prevent its migration from the east of the Red Sea to Egypt.
