CAIRO: Teachers, students and education administrators arriving from abroad are to wait eight days after they arrive before going to school as a precautionary measure against H1N1, Abdel Rahman Shahin, official spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said. The ministry's decision will apply to both public and private schools and universities. Shahin said the ministers of Education and Higher Education were notified. The ministry wants to ensure that teachers and students coming from abroad are H1N1 free, given that the virus' incubation period is seven days. Shahin explained that the school or university president will be in charge of implementing the decision and if the ministry discovers any violations, "the president will be held responsible and will face charges. Egypt currently reports 5-15 H1N1 cases on a daily basis. By press time, the number of H1N1 cases in Egypt reached 700, 80 percent of which recovered. In related news, the Ministry of Interior is currently evaluating the situation of the winners of pilgrimage lottery who are sick or above 65 years old. New regulations by the Ministry of Health set an age range for Umrah and Hajj pilgrims traveling this year at 25-65 years old. Last Friday, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan advised all governments to prepare for "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.
