CAIRO: The committee monitoring the swine flu situation in Alexandria has confirmed four cases of the H1N1 flu virus in the governorate. The first case is that of a two-year-old girl, the second is a 22-year-old female and the third is a 37-year-old male baker, all of whom are currently at the Alexandria Fevers Hospital receiving treatment. The fourth case is a 22-year-old female who is receiving treatment at the Abou Qir Hospital. Alexandria governor Adel Labib, has told the press that the governorate is taking all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of its citizens and the hospitals are equipped to receive all cases of swine flu. But despite the governor's comment, the press office at the Ministry of Health denied that there are new cases appearing in the country and have not released any official statements regarding the situation of the virus in the country, saying that there aren't any developments in the issue. The last report the ministry released was on March 24 when it announced that the number of swine flu cases in Egypt has substantially declined by nearly half. Due to that decline, the ministry decided that during the second semester of the academic year, no classrooms where the H1N1 virus is reported will be shut down and that precautionary measures will be limited to giving swine flu patients a week off school. The number of cases at the time was 16,164, of which 15,891 cases (98.3 percent) have been treated. On the other hand, a source who preferred to remain anonymous told the Daily News Egypt that in a particular private school in the Fifth Settlement in New Cairo, 45 percent of the students got swine flu during the past month. In its last H1N1 situation update released on May 14, the World Health Organization said, “As of 9 May, worldwide more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 18,036 deaths. “The most active areas of pandemic influenza virus transmission currently are in parts of the Caribbean and Central America, and to a lesser extent in West Africa and South and Southeast Asia. In the temperate zone of the northern and southern hemisphere, overall pandemic influenza activity remains sporadic. Seasonal influenza virus type B continues to be detected at low levels across parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe,” WHO explained.
