CAIRO: Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly denied news reports claiming that Egyptian MPs were not given Hajj visas to distribute among members of their constituencies because of the H1N1 flu pandemic. In its Thursday issue, state-run daily newspaper Al-Gomhuria claimed that members of the People's Assembly and Shoura Council did not receive Hajj visas to grant to residents of the districts they represent in parliament. MPs are allotted a number of travel visas for Hajj or Umrah trips annually with expenses fully paid by the government, to give selected constituents. MP Farid Ismail, member of the PA's health committee, said visas are usually distributed after Eid Al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. "Until now, we [MPs] were only told to distribute the visas among citizens according to the new regulations set by the Ministry of Health, he said. According to new rules which were put into effect on Aug. 15, travelers must be over 25 and under 65. They must also provide medical reports proving that they do not suffer chronic diseases. Passengers who traveled before August 15 were exempt from these rules. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said it may decrease the number of government delegations of Umrah and Hajj by 50 percent again as a preventive measure against swine flu. On Thursday, Cairo International Airport turned away 75 Umrah pilgrims in accordance with the travel restrictions set by the health ministry. A serious increase in the number of cases has been detected over the week end. On Saturday 39 new cases of H1N1 were announced in Egypt, the highest number of cases discovered per day since the eruption of the disease last June. On Friday morning, 16 new cases were announced and nine more were discovered by the evening. Until print time, according to the ministry's official spokesman, the total number of cases has reached 590, however he added that the number of recovered cases has reached 448, and the rest are in good health. Egypt has reported only one death from the H1N1 flu of a 25-year-old woman who recently came to Egypt after returning from Umrah last month. At print time, Saudi Arabia reported 16 deaths, and Oman reported four deaths. In a related note, on Friday the World Health Organization's (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan announced that all governments should prepare for what she called "a second wave of H1N1 flu. In a press statement, Chan said that WHO cannot confirm if the "worst wave of H1N1 has already passed or is yet to come. Chan further added that because the virus is new, that means it can mutate and is "unpredictable. According to Chan, over 1,800 people have died worldwide from the flu since its eruption last April. H1N1 has infected citizens in 170 countries worldwide. A vaccine is currently being manufactured by 20 international pharmaceutical companies.
