CAIRO: The Ministry of Health announced 15 new cases of H1N1 in Egypt raising the total to 1,193. The new cases include nine school students, three Egyptians, two British nationals and one Italian, according to the Ministry of Health's official statement. Out of the nine infected students, four (aged 14, eight and 15) are in Ramses College for Girls; a seven-year-old student in Gaber Al-Ansary School; a 10-year-old student in Al-Iman School; and a 13-year-old student in the Egyptian Language School. All schools are in Cairo. In Qaliubiya, two students aged seven and eight from Al-Shahid Kadry School were also infected with the virus. By press time, the number of recovered cases from H1N1 in Egypt reached 1,147 while 43 cases are still in hospitals, according to the Ministry of Health's press release. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Egyptian Holding Company for Vaccines, Mohamed Rabie, announced that the Egyptian Hajj pilgrims will no longer be obliged to sign a document indicating that they are responsible for any side effects resulting from taking the H1N1 vaccine that is expected to arrive to Egypt in a few days. Rabie made the announcement during his interview with "Sabah Al-Khair Ya Masr program on Wednesday. The Ministry of Health has previously assured that the new H1N1 vaccine is safe to use. In a previous interview, the Ministry of Health's official spokesperson Abdel Rahman Shahin said that the H1N1 vaccine has been used by around 4 million people worldwide and there were no odd side effects reported. "In a few cases, side effects common with the regular flu vaccine occurred, Shahin said, adding that the reported effects were appearance of spots on the skin and pain in the place of the injection. On the other hand, Shahin said that the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health announced that no pilgrim will be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia if their temperature is higher than 38 degrees. The Saudi Arabian health officials also stated that countries are in charge of monitoring their pilgrims and should not allow any pilgrim to depart if their temperature is higher than 38 degrees. H1N1 vaccine will be available in Egypt on Oct.30. The vaccination process will start on Oct.31, before the first group of Hajj pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia on Nov.8.
