CAIRO: Swine flu cases in Egypt are substantially declining, with the rate of weekly reported cases falling to almost half, the Ministry of Health announced. "Swine flu in Egypt is declining, the number of reported cases this week went down to 22, in comparison to 44 cases reported last week, said Amr Kandil, deputy Minister of Health for Preventive Medicine. The total number of cases is 16,125, according to the latest swine flu report. Three deaths were reported last week, bringing the total number of fatalities to 272. The World Health Organization echoed a similar view. "In North Africa and West Asia, influenza activity is low, it said in its situation update released on Friday March 5. Around the country, the rate of swine flu cases reported has been declining and will continue to do so until April, Abdel Rahman Shahin, official spokesman of the Ministry of Health, had said previously. Out of the 22 cases of swine flu reported this week, only seven were reported in schools. Due to the substantial decline, the Ministry of Health is currently considering not shutting down any classrooms where the virus appears and limiting the precautionary measures to giving the students who show swine flu symptoms one week off, explains Kandil. Last week, the Ministry of Education announced that during the second term of the academic year, which started this week, classes with reported swine flu cases will be shut down for only one week instead of two weeks as in the first term.
