CAIRO: Egyptian Ministry reports three more deaths on December 16th, caused by the swine flu. The total number of deaths is now 64. The people reported dead were: a 26-year old woman, a 2-year old boy, and a 14-year old student.
17 December 2009
Egypt Swine Flu Deaths at 64
CAIRO: Egyptian Ministry reports three more deaths on December 16th, caused by the swine flu. The total number of deaths is now 64. The people reported dead were: a 26-year old woman, a 2-year old boy, and a 14-year old student.
15 December 2009
Egypt Swine Flu Deaths Rise to 59
13 December 2009
Cairo Going Green
08 December 2009
Egypt's Death Toll: 32
02 December 2009
Egypt's Health Ministry reports swine flu 22nd death
CAIRO: Abdel Rahman Shahin, Ministry of Health spokesperson, reported the death of a 53-year-old man from Helwan named Ali Mohamed Rashad, making the total number of deaths 22. The victim was hospitalized on Wednesday November 25th in the private hospital called Al Salam International Hospital. He was in a critical condition suffering from severe respiratory problems and had difficulty breathing, and was later put in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on a ventilator. Medical history reports indicate he also suffered from renal failure.
25 November 2009
Swine Flue Fears for Hajj PILGRIMS
23 November 2009
Egypt Reports 10th Swine Flu Death
CAIRO: Egypt's tenth death was reported on November 22 caused by the swine flu. The victim was a 48-year-old woman who was hospitalized Saturday night, and died the next day. Ministry officials report the woman was suffering from a high fever, asthma, and diabetes. However, the death was caused by the the worsening of these symptoms and condition by the swine flu.
16 November 2009
Egypt: Seventh Death Reported
DUBAI- Egypt's seventh fatality caused by the swine flu was reported. The victim was a 37- year old woman. Newspaper reported she was in the hospital on November 11th due to pneumonia and died to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
11 November 2009
Egypt: Student's Struggle for Education
As the Ministry of Health continues to close private and public schools all throughout Egypt due to the augmentation in the number of swine flu cases, thousands of parents' concerns for their children's education increase. Parents look for alternates for education, but fail to find a solution. Private lessons are expensive and private schools are being forced to close also. Parents worry that their children might not even be able to take their end-of-semester exams on January as planned.
09 November 2009
Cairo University Satellite Imagery
Image Description
The photographs of Cairo University of Egypt provided were extracted from satellite imagery by Google Earth. The primary image (attached) is at an eye altitude of 785 meters, the secondary at 467 meters, and the third at 253 meters. The primary image exhibits the main highways that surround the university. The main university building has a half spherical structure above the building. The building sits on a large tract of rectangular land in which several smaller complexes surround it with a major concentration in the west side. There is a large rectangular visible area and a circular area north and east from the main building respectively where vegetation is visible. There is also a three-dimensional building east from the university.
Intelligence Usefulness
Image is useful for strategic and operational intelligence. For strategic planning, the images may be somewhat unstable. The trees north and east from the main university building could be cut off and other buildings may be constructed in those areas. However the rest of the buildings, highways and roads are stable. Further construction of main buildings and roads to facilitate access to the university will be fairly visible through this type of imagery.
Operationally, when attacking the university aerially, the university is vulnerable, and thousands of students, faculty and staff will undoubtedly be at risk. However, ground approach can only be made through various checkpoint areas. Parking lot is readily scattered and a short distance from the main building and the rest of the university buildings. However, parking permits are advised to better monitor the area (if applicable). Damage to those buildings through an explosion can be predicted. Biological or chemical agent attacks would be possible as well.
Shortcomings
An image is limited to provide all information due to the limited view it provides, and therefore has a little tactical value. These images only provide an external top view of a particular area of the earth's surface. We can see buildings, their surroundings, vegetation, main roads, bodies of water, etc. In addition, we can see the size of the building as well as few entrances, but we are not able to see security nor precisely nor functions and activities taking place in the university. All possible threats that can occur externally or internally can not be predicted through these images. Therefore, other sources will be required to know more about these unobservable actions.
Summary
Cairo University is an institute of higher education; it includes law school, and medical school. This school is one of the most important and biggest university in Egypt where a disaster would result as a disastrous tragedy. Currently, it is one of the most active universities in combating the swine flu. The large area the university covers that is observed in the images, demonstrates potential capacity of the large number of students and faculty. Students are in constant contact with each other and papers and books are frequently passed from individual to individual, which puts them a higher risk in acquiring the swine flu. However, this internal threat cannot be observed nor predicted through satellite imagery. Cairo University is vulnerable to internal and external threats.
08 November 2009
Israel Transfers 5,000 H1N1 Vaccinations to Gaza
03 November 2009
Egypt Reports 6th Death Caused by Swine Flu
01 November 2009
Swine Flu Increases Private Tuition in Egypt
Private lessons are not allowed by Egyptian law, but Egyptian parents are still sending their children to private teaching centres to decrease the probability of becoming diseased from attending the high density classes. The costs have escalated to LE16 billion (US $3 billion), and may continue was the nunber swine flu cases progress.
Source: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091031122041912
(Reliability: 8)
29 October 2009
Saudi Attempts to Diminish Swine Flu Spread Before Hajj
22 October 2009
Risk of Swine Flu in Cairo's schools
CAIRO- Egyptian ministries of health and education have reduced half of the children in classrooms to lessen the spread of swine flu. Students are obligated to attend school only three days of the week instead of the regular six days.
WHO School Guidelines
CAIRO- The World Health Organization (WHO) states that schools may serve as a contributor to the spread of the swine flu. WHO recommends "hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, proper cleaning, good ventilation, isolation of staff or students" to reduce infection. However, specific recommendation for closure of schools cannot not be made due to the complexity of the situation. Yet, timing of schools' closure are critical. The greatest benefits will be obtained if schools are closed early before one percent of the population are diseased.
21 October 2009
Egypt will Vaccinate Hajj Pilgrims
16 October 2009
Decrease in Cairo Garbage Collection
Dana Moussa created an event on Facebook called “Clean up Giza” in which 350 members joined to collect trash from neighborhoods. Giza is the huge section of greater Cairo extending out to the pyramids.
15 October 2009
First Egyptian School Closure
Comment: Egypt postponed first day of schools and universities for Egyptian schools from mid-September till October 3 to prevent outbreaks. However, the number of cases in the country increases to 1,053 swine flue infections, including three deaths.
12 October 2009
Cairo Schools Close in Egypt
The Health Ministry stated that Egypt will obtain 5 million doses of swine flu vaccinations over the next six months. About 80,000 vaccines will be delivered by the end of October, 1.2 million by January, and the rest by March. This amount will cover about 6% of Egypt’s 80 million populations, however development for more vaccines are currently at work.
(Reliability: 7)
Egypt: Developing own H1N1 vaccination for 2011
Egypt is working closely with World Health Organization (WHO) to increase their capacity in meeting these goals by acquiring a grant and obtaining technical guidance. Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali stated that Egypt has already contracted to buy 5 million vaccines. However, they requested from WHO 15 million more and 5 million additional from the private sector.
Meanwhile, the distribution is primarily for public workers and school children. Gabali implies that Egypt will vaccinate all students (20 million, but kindergarten to secondary school first), and then those in critical jobs (10 million) if possible.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59B4S120091012
(Reliability: 8)
Comment: The third death from swine flu was reported on October 9, 2009, it was a 23 year old woman from Giza province.
07 October 2009
Egypt Universities Face Swine Flu
CAIRO- More than three million university students finally start school after a week's delay, and Minister of Higher Education, Hani Hilal, states they are prepared to confront swine flu in case of an outbreak. The ministry will take measures depending on the severity of the spread, including shutting down universities.
Cairo University divided students among classes, and included renovating maintenance requirements of libraries, labs, and lecture rooms as a precaution. Sayed Genena, head of Cairo University dorms, informed that 5% to 20% of the dorms will be used to isolate suspects.Therefore, inspection visits are regular throughout most campuses. Ain Shames University president, Ahmed Zaki Badr, declares the university will broadcast lectures through satellites. Additional precautions include restricting attendance of external students, whom are permitted to attend only on Fridays and forced to study at home. Performance in students' first year will determine allowance as regular full-time students.
World Health Organization (WHO) implies that the suspension of classes could be the most effecting way in prevent the spread of H1N1, however, it does not implement definite guidance to whether schools should close or continue.
Source:http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=24980
(Reliability: 9)
02 October 2009
Dreads of Swine Flu under Rubbish Threat in Egypt
CAIRO- Rubbish rotting all over the country is posing health threats to Egypt’s civilians. People are becoming more desperate as the overcrowded areas increase with piles of trash in the streets. Hygiene and basic services like water and electricity are not guaranteed to the people. This obstacle imposes difficulty in washing their hands with soap and water, as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), to prevent the spread of the swine flu. The country is already combating against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu and lack of hygiene will impose a greater challenge.
Various restrictions were placed in attempting to prevent contamination in travelers, schools, universities, and even the slaughter of 250,000 pigs, through was no evidence on pigs transmitting the disease to humans. Pigs were feeding on organic waste and rubbish increased after the termination. Egypt produces a total of 55,000 tones of waste daily. Litter is found everywhere including near schools, fruit stalls, and hospitals. Though there is no link between rubbish and swine flu, rubbish is favorable environment for other diseases.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gwZ4zKJUpKd1O86wWykGL8O4pgSQ
(Reliability 8)
01 October 2009
Egypt Joins Fight Against Swine Flu Ahead of Hajj
CAIRO- Egypt recently reinforced airport officials to run swine flu test on thousands of civilians who were returning home after attending the Ramadan umrah. For this reason, attendance of Egyptians to perform the upcoming event of hajj this year is expected to drop as much as 30 to 40 percent. Egyptian official stated that even stricter measures may be introduced in the future. Hatem al-Gabali, an Egyptian Health Minister declared that they might make the decision of cancelling hajj this year to prevent outbreaks.
Health officials have reported over 900 cases of swine flu in Egypt, two of them resulted in death. Egypt’s concern has cause them to take several other measure to combat swine flu such as postponing the first day of schools and universities till October 3 restrain risk of the virus’ contamination.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h0jdQUQVHwpVp8pRTGkoPWk1JDgw
(Reliability: 8)
Comment: Most Arab countries are making efforts to prevent swine flu outspread before the hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. The hajj takes place in November, season of the winter flu and approximately two million foreigners are predicted to perform hajj. Arab health ministers suggested prohibiting people under the age of 12 and over 65 from traveling, pregnant women and people with diseases.
29 September 2009
Egypt Demands More Swine Flu Vaccines
CAIRO- Egypt will not have sufficient swine flu vaccines for its 80 million population. Health Ministry spokesman Abd-El Rahman Shaheen informs that 5 million doses will be distributed in the upcoming six months. In October's second half health professionals will deliver 80,000 vaccines, by January 1.2 million, and the rest by March. This amount will only cover six percent of Egypt's population which is not enough for all pregnant women, children and students. Shaheen asks WHO for a "fair distribution" to successfully vaccine those at high risk, Egyptian Muslims who plan pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia, and health workers.
Egypt has the highest number of deaths from the bird flu. Officials goal is to also prevent the development of a new virus due to new possible combinations. WHO will commence swine vaccine distribution in November to an estimate of 90 countries, including Egypt.
Source: http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/09/29/news/438645.prt
(Reliability: 8)
Comment: There are 87 confirmed cases by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories of avian influenza (H5N1) from which 27 have been fatal.
28 September 2009
Egyptians Swine Flu Under Investigation
CAIRO- Global concerns over the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to rise. Egypt attempts to prevent the spread of the virus by taking strict precautions with policies and a quarantine system. Already, officials closed schools till October 3. In August, Egyptian government banned elderly and people under 25 years old from traveling to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Egyptian government quarantined 150 people after two confirmed cases at an American University of Cairo dormitory for a week in June, and continues to suspects of having the swine flu. Officials that quarantine possible infected people are mixing them with the diseased which will result further spread of the virus. World Health Organization does not consider Egyptian measures reasonable due to the recent unnecessary slaughter of pigs in April despite unreported cases of the pandemic.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-28-voa35.cfm?rss=health
(Reliability 9)
Comment: People who are already infected should stay at home to keep others from getting the swine flu. Suspects will become infected when they have contact with those who already have it.
27 September 2009
Egypt: Distance Learning, Swine Flu Spread Preventer
CAIRO- Swine flu virus cases increase to 900 with two deaths in Egypt. Concerns in Egyptian universities forces new measures to prevent the spread of the swine flu virus through out the country by planning to utilize distance learning in many universities. University officials postponed the new academic year start date from 6 September to 3 October to make such preparations and changes. Egyptian university representative Ashraf Hatem, stated that "irregular students" or those with swine flu symptoms will not be allowed to attend the universities. Officials decided based on the idea that decreased number of attendance will reduce the spread of the swine flu.
Cairo University intends to broadcast lectures through two TV satellites due to large class sizes that can facilitate disease spread. Helwan University will divide student's attendance in morning and afternoon shifts, while Ain Shams University plans to record and relay lectures on the radio and student's union.
Source: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090925024540199
(Reliability: 8)
Comment: H1N1 is highly contagious similar to seasonal flu. Due to its potential to infect people, people who are already sick should stay home to prevent other people from sickening. Children under 5 years of age, people 65 and older, pregnant women, and people who already have a disease are vulnerable to severe complications and possible death.