An article from Al-Ahram Weekly :
" The death from bird flu of a 20 year-old woman from the Shubra Al-Kheima district of Qalioubiya governorate on 27 July, and of a 33 year-old woman from the same governorate on 29 August, brings the total death toll from avian flu in Egypt to 112 since the virus first appeared. The two deaths are the eighth and ninth fatality this year.
The bird flu virus H5N1 was first recorded in Egypt in 2006. Precautionary measures have long been in effect, though they are now being upgraded, says Mona Mehrez, head of the Central Laboratory for Poultry Monitoring at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The sale of live poultry is once again to be banned across Egypt's 29 governorates, and a major awareness campaign has been launched to alert the public to the benefits of buying frozen fowl.
"Nearly 20 per cent of Cairo's poultry stores sell frozen birds. This percentage must be substantially increased over the next two years," says Mehrez.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a press release on 10 August. "The world is no longer in phase six of the pandemic alert. We are now moving into the post-pandemic period," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course."
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