CAIRO: Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly quelled concerns after two H1N1 cases appeared among students, saying a virus outbreak among students was "expected. In a phone interview on Al-Beit Beitak talk show Wednesday, El-Gabaly urged Egyptians not to panic only hours after the Ministry of Health reported the two new cases. According to the Ministry of Health's spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin, a 15-year-old girl at Rajac American School in Cairo and an 11-year-old girl at Nagah Helal School in Sohag tested positive for H1N1. Both students are undergoing treatment in hospitals in their respective governorates. According to Shahin, the two classes in which the two cases appeared were suspended for two weeks until all students and teachers are tested. According to El-Gabaly, all public schools will be obliged to make up for the time classes were suspended and will work in coordination with the Ministry of Education. However, private schools, whose curricula are supervised by international educational authorities, "are free to do as they please and should manage the problem their own way, he said. In related news, cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) announced Wednesday that there is still no need to postpone this year's academic year adding that the spread of the virus in Egypt is still "limited. A statement released by the IDSC after the two cases were reported indicated that the virus at its current state is not severe and does not cause serious complications. IDSC further added that the Ministry of Health took all the necessary precautionary measures to monitor the virus among school and university students. By press time, the total number of H1N1 cases reached 1,007 in Egypt. Egypt announced it will not cancel this year's Hajj pilgrimage scheduled for late November, according to the most recent statement released by cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady. However, all Egyptian pilgrims are required to take the H1N1 vaccine prior to their departure to Saudi Arabia as an obligatory precautionary measure imposed by the Saudi Arabian government. It is noted that Saudi Arabia reported the highest number of deaths from H1N1 flu in the Middle East with a total number of 35 deaths. Some 80,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine are expected to reach Egypt by next October. Last week, Egypt said it plans to import 15 million doses of the vaccine rather than the original 5 million.
