CAIRO: The rate of swine flu cases reported nationwide has been declining and will continue to do so until April, said Abdel Rahman Shahin, spokesman of the Ministry of Health. He added however that they are expecting a new wave in March. The ministry announced that the number of swine flu cases in Egypt reached 15,971, while the death toll is now at 262, according to the latest swine flu report released on Sunday. These include 5,581 cases among school students, 859 university students and 9,531 from outside educational institutions. The highest number of swine flu cases was reported in the last week of December. The number of recovered patients reached 15,667, which count for more than 97 percent of the total number. There are currently 42 patients receiving treatments in hospitals around the country, Shahin said. The majority of swine flu cases have appeared in the most populated governorates, Cairo - 41.3 percent - and Alexandria - 10.3 percent, since this is "an urban virus, Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly previously said. Seventy-nine percent of swine flu related deaths were patients of chronic illnesses and pregnant women. In its situation update released on Friday Feb. 5, the World Health Organization described the situation in the region saying, "In North Africa, pandemic influenza transmission remains active and geographically widespread but overall activity has been declining since peaking during late December 2009 and early January 2010. During January 2010, a substantial decline in the number of pandemic virus isolations and new cases was observed in Morocco and Egypt, respectively, it said. In a related note, Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr, told news reports that they are taking additional precautionary measures against swine flu in schools since students will be returning from winter break. So far 21,043 students have been vaccinated during the H1N1 vaccination campaign at elementary schools in the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Sixth of October, Helwan and Qaliubeya. Two million students were expected to receive the vaccine when the campaign kicked off on Jan. 4. Taking the vaccine at school is optional and free of charge.
