CAIRO: The Ministry of Health said that so far no H1N1 cases appeared among Egyptian pilgrims currently in Saudi Arabia, and that all pilgrims were vaccinated before leaving the country.
The number of Egyptian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia on Monday reached 10,500 in Medina and 11,572 in Mecca.
On the other hand, the Saudi Ministry of Health reported than the number of swine flu cases in the country has increased by 50 percent since last October when pilgrims started flocking into the country to perform Hajj.
The Saudi ministry had requested that all pilgrims be vaccinated before entering the country.
In a related note, five more schools and 11 classrooms were suspended in Egypt due to the appearance of swine flu cases.However, Minister of Education Youssri El-Gamal confirmed that the mid-year exams will take place as scheduled. Students who belong to any suspended schools at the time will take a comprehensive exam at the end of the second semester which includes the entire academic year’s curricula.
Fifty-three new cases of H1N1 were reported Monday, bringing the total number of cases in Egypt to 2,719, according to the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC).
