CAIRO: The number of H1N1 cases in Egypt reached 108 by press time, 84 of which have recovered, an official statement issued by the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center said on Wednesday. Egypt so far reported no deaths from the virus; and all cases have been responding to Tamiflu, the drug used to treat the virus. According to the statement, the remaining cases are in good condition and are undergoing treatment. The new cases include a 15-year-old British student who recently arrived to Sharm El-Sheikh from England on July 13, a 44-year-old British man and a 5-year-old British child who came on the same flight. A 2-year-old Egyptian boy who came in contact with another patient, as well as two16-year-old Egyptian students from Minya, tested positive for H1N1. The statement said 51 suspected cases of H1N1 virus from different governorates tested negative including Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Beni Suef, Damietta, Ismailia and Helwan. The Cabinet's statement further indicated that the Ministry of Agriculture is only obliged to pay financial compensations to the owners of pigs' farms and not to the owners of factories that specialize in pigs' products, after Egypt launched a campaign to slaughter all its pigs a few days after the eruption of the virus abroad. On Sunday, Cairo governor Abdel Azim Wazeer issued a decision banning the annual celebration of the birth of Sayeda Zeinab, the Prophet's granddaughter, upon recommendation from the High Committee for Fighting Swine Flu. The World Health Organization's latest update placed the total number of H1N1 cases at 94,512 with 429 deaths.
