CAIRO: The Ministry of Health reported three new H1N1 cases Saturday, raising Egypt’s total to 120, of which 101 have fully recovered.
According to the ministry’s official statement, one Egyptian and two British girls who all arrived to Luxor from England Wednesday tested positive for H1N1.
Moreover, test results are still pending for a one-year-old baby girl and her mother who arrived from Saudi Arabia and admitted to the hospital for having a high fever.
Hassan Shaban, head of the Cairo International Airport’s Quarantine, told the press on Saturday that his department has examined some 17,000 passengers who arrived on 124 different flights on Saturday and only those two suspected cases showed symptoms.
A 19-year-old boy who recently arrived from Libya was also admitted to a hospital in Assiut after exhibiting flu-like symptoms. However, his test results are still pending.
Last month, Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa agreed with Health Minister Hatem El-Gabaly’s request to cancel or postpone any plans for Umrah this summer after the spread of swine flu.
However, Gomaa said that other health ministries and the World Health Organization should be involved in this decision.
On the other hand, both the Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah and Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawy announced that neither Umrah nor Hajj trips will be canceled.
Umrah’s high season started this month and is expected to continue until the end of the holy month of Ramadan (starting late August). Hajj season will start late November.
