Intensified concern about the spread of swine flu pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise its pandemic alert to level 4 from level 3 out of 6 levels and warned that there is a "significant risk."
This means that the pandemic level has only two more levels. The WHO has announced that there are no swine flu human cases in Egypt and the Middle East, with the exception of a case in Israel, announced by Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the government seriously considers the slaughtering of 350,000 pigs nationwide and several provinces have already started to slaughter the pigs.
In addition, the People's Assembly (Parliament) Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour has sent an urgent memo to the Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif calling on him to implement the parliament's recommendation to immediately slaughter the pigs and not to transfer the pigs' farms to May 15 City.
Sorour has held the government responsible for the slowdown in implementing the recommendation, adding that the recommendation is "clear, polite and binding" at the same time.
The parliament's majority and opposition MPs have rejected the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab's demand to give the government a chance till today morning to study the situation and inform the parliament of the decisions to be taken.
Some MPs have described the government's stance as "slack." Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza said the government is considering a LE500 million to LE600 million initial budget for compensating the owners if the government decided to slaughter the pigs.
Several governors have not waited for a formal decision to slaughter the pigs, as Qalyubia Governor Adli Hussein decided to slaughter the pigs in the governorate and compensate the owners with LE5 million.
Helwan province has also decided to "temporary" execute the pigs till the disease is combated. In addition, several other provinces have seen intensive campaigns on the pigs' farms. The campaigns resulted in the execution of 110 pigs in Beheira, 24 in Suez, and 17 in Menya. Alexandria closed the pigs' slaughterhouses.
Al-Masry Al-Youm learnt that the pig farms' owners started to smuggle the pigs into desert areas. The State seeks to enter into a dialogue with the church to get its support for the execution of pigs. Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, advised the Christians not to eat pork to avoid being infected by many diseases.
Tharwat Bassily, Undersecretary of the General Congregation Council, said the Church has nothing to do with the slaughtering of the pigs, adding: "The government has to take an action in this regard in accordance with the public interest."
On the other hand, the quarantine authorities at Cairo International Airport took the necessary procedures to ensure that the 11 Mexican tourists who arrived in Cairo yesterday were not infected with the swine flu.
