CAIRO: A 24-year-old pregnant woman died from swine flu on Tuesday, bringing Egypt’s H1N1 death toll to 11, health ministry spokesperson Abdel Rahman Shahin said.
She was admitted to Al Sadr Hospital in Imbaba on Sunday, Nov. 22 in a critical condition, exhibiting difficulty in breathing, coughing, severe pneumonia and an extremely low level of oxygen in her blood.
Eighty-five new H1N1 cases were reported Tuesday, bringing the total number of people infected in Egypt to 3,145, according to the Information and Decision Support Center.
Out of the 85 new cases, 31 cases were found in schools, 10 in universities and 44 cases from outside educational institutes, 40 of whom are Egyptian residents, one Saudi Arabian and one Russian.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly approved the local production of Tamiflu as the ministry reported Egypt’s 11th swine flu death Tuesday.
El-Gabaly stipulated that all raw materials used in the drug’s production will be imported from producers certified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The decision was made as a way to prevent the sale of the drug in the black market, even though the ministry has enough stock, the minister said at the Conference to Enhance Medical Services in Sharm El-Sheikh.
On its official website, the WHO states that it “estimates that around 80 million doses of pandemic vaccine have been distributed and around 65 million people have been vaccinated.
“Although intense monitoring of vaccine safety continues, all data compiled to date indicate that pandemic vaccines match the excellent safety profile of seasonal influenza vaccines.
