The Ministry of Health declared yesterday that four Egyptian people coming from abroad have been hospitalized on suspicion of contracting the H1N1 virus known as swine flu. Meanwhile, the death of a person coming from the Egyptian Governorate of Gharbia and working in Sharm El-Sheikh caused panic among his countrymen for fear he might have died of the disease. In the meantime, life goes on as usual at the Sofitel hotel in the Haram quarter [Cairo] despite one of the hotel staff contracting the disease. An official source there denied that the hotel or its customers have been quarantined.
Imbaba Fever Hospital received 30-year-old Walid Dhaki Anwar from the town of Qalyub on suspicion of him having swine flu. Dr. Abdel Aty Abdel Alim, Director of Preventive Medicine at the Governorate of Qalyubia, said that Mr. Walid felt the symptoms of the disease after coming from Bahrain. A private doctor advised him to go to the hospital and he went to Imbaba Fever Hospital. He pointed out that Mr. Walid was isolated and given the Tamiflu medicine, while samples were taken to be analyzed. Meanwhile, 41-year-old Mohamed Fawzi Abdel Hamid, photographer at the fourth TV channel, and 55-year-old Nabil Salim Mahmoud Shousha were admitted to Zagazig Fever Hospital (Sharkia Governorate) on Friday evening on suspicion of them having swine flu. Mr. Shousha has recently been to Israel. Dr Sayed Aboul Khair, under secretary at the Ministry of Health, said both patients have been isolated and samples have been taken and sent to the Health Ministry Central Laboratories. In the New Valley, Dr. Osama el-Hadi, health ministry under secretary, said 36-year-old Eid Ahmed Suleiman has been admitted to El-Sadr Hospital in Kharga pending the results of the analyses. Panic spread in the Governorate of Gharbia after the death of 41-year-old cook Mohamed Hussein el-Tawil from the village of Kafr Essam who was working in Sharm El-Sheikh, especially after Tanta University Hospital said he might have died of swine flu and prepared a report in this regard. Samples were taken of his blood and from his throat before he passed away. They were sent to the central laboratories, but he and all the people who had been in contact with him tested negative.
In Menya, Dr. Mohamed Ayman Ragab, under secretary at the Ministry of Health, said that the two cases admitted to Mallawi General Hospital tested negative and that no other suspected cases were hospitalized there. He pointed out that a third case is under observation pending the results of the analyses. He also said that Menya, Mallawi and Maghagha's three general hospitals as well as Suzanne Mubarak Hospital for Health Insurance and Sammalut's One Day Surgery Hospital have been chosen as the first defense line to receive suspected and confirmed cases of swine flu. Rear Admiral Osama Mortaza, security director of the Sofitel Hotel, denied any quarantine had been imposed inside the hotel, pointing out that all suspected cases have been taken out of the building, except an Englishman called Nicholas who has remained quarantined for three days. Yet, he eventually tested negative to the disease and he has left Egypt. He said that the Ministry of Health passes by all hotels on a daily basis and that there is a doctor following up on rises in body temperature and informing the ministry of any suspected cases. He added that the hotel management, according to the instructions of the ministry, has not forced the employees or the tourists to wear protective masks.
Mortaza said 40% of the 300 rooms of the hotel are currently occupied; adding that tourism there has not been affected despite being generally weak. He also affirmed that the Ministry of Health has carried out 220 analyses for swine flu, including some 70 foreigners, and that all of them tested negative. He then pointed out that life at the hotel goes on as usual and that tourists are living normally.
