Egypt continues to overreact to swine flu, which I take as an indication that the government has no confidence its public health system can handle a real outbreak.
The government has already slaughtered 200,000 pigs and agreed to hajj visa restrictions. Now it's also giving students a few extra weeks of summer vacation.
Egypt has ordered foreign schools and universities to close until early next month and local schools to delay opening until then over worries about the spread of swine flu, a health ministry official said on Wednesday.
Not such a bad deal for foreign students, I guess. AUC started classes on Sept. 6, so foreign students are already in Egypt; the closure gives them a few weeks to travel. I'm slightly jealous.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is trying to convince worried hajj pilgrims that the swine flu isn't that dangerous. The Saudi government is concerned that this year's hajj won't be well-attended, costing the kingdom a lot of money.
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Categories: Health, Life and Culture
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