The Ministry of Health announced yesterday a new case of H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, bringing the number of people infected with the disease in Egypt to 79. 68 of them have recovered after five more patients were released from hospital. 11 cases are still being treated in hospital.
Dr. Abdel Rahman Chahine, the official spokesman of the ministry, said the new case is an 8 year-old Egyptian child who arrived with his family at Cairo International Airport on June 30 from Greece. The quarantine authorities at Cairo International Airport detained a Sudanese and an Egyptian female passengers suspected of being infected. They were taken to Abbasiya fever hospital [Cairo] for medical analyses. Furthermore, 21,000 passengers from around the world were questioned yesterday at the airport.
The health authorities at Safaga Maritime Port suspected that an Egyptian passenger coming from abroad might be infected. Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk, Health Director at the Red Sea, said the passenger is called Adel Abdel Latif, is 49 and has been taken to Safaga Central Hospital after showing symptoms of the disease. A sample was taken from him and sent to the central laboratories of the Ministry of Health to be analyzed.
Three hospitals in Beheira, Gharbia and Qena admitted three more suspected cases of swine flu.
Abroad, the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank reported two more cases of swine flu yesterday, bringing the number of people infected with the disease in Palestine to 63. Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Health has discovered 140 new cases over the last few days, raising the number of cases to 681, with no death. The Jordanian Health Minister Nayef Al Fayez said only one of the 23 people who contracted swine flu in his country are still being treated, while the other 22 have been released from hospital.
Morocco's Supreme Scientific Council, which brings together senior clergymen and is headed by King Mohammed VI, has decided not to cancel the trips for this year's Islamic Major and Minor Pilgrimages. They thus denied rumors of a possible cancellation of those flights due to swine flu. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday in Geneva that developing countries need about $1 billion dollars by the end of the year to cope with the pandemic.
