Egypt reported on Monday five more cases of influenza A/H1N1, bringing the total number of the flu in the populous country to 66, according to the Ministry of Health.

Four cases (3, 10, 13, and 14) come from Sharqiya Governorate, about 65 km north of Cairo who have contacted A/H1N1 patient coming from the United States, Health Ministry Spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said.

The spokesman said that the fifth case is an Egyptian woman (48)from Alexandria Governorate, who just came back from Saudi Arabia after having Umrah (pilgrimage to Mecca at any time of the year), and this is the second case coming from Saudi Arabia.

He said that the health conditions of the five patients are stable after proper treatment, adding that 38 of the country's total 66 cases have recovered.

On June 2, Egypt reported its first A/H1N1 flu case, which was a 12-years-old Egyptian-American girl coming from the United States via the Netherlands.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country that was hit hard by the fatal bird flu in 2006, decided in late April to cull all pigs in the country to stem the highly infectious flu.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease has infected more than 70,000 worldwide and killed 311.

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2009)