CAIRO: The global swine flu pandemic has claimed the lives of five more Egyptians raising the death toll to 187, announced Ministry of Health spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shahin. The five cases include a four-year-old girl from Cairo, a 59-year-old male from Giza, a 41-year-old female from Cairo, a 23-year-old female from Helwan and a 24-year-old female from Daqahlia. In its situation update released on Friday Jan. 8, the World Health Organization stated that "the most active areas of pandemic influenza transmission currently are in parts of central, eastern and southeastern Europe, North Africa, and South Asia. In addition, it particularly referred to the increasing number of cases in Egypt saying "parts of North Africa continues to report increasing respiratory diseases activity, particularly in Egypt. Egypt's Minister of Health Hatem El Gabali, previously warned that the number of swine flu cases will increase in the winter months of December, January and February.
