Egypt reported five more cases of influenza A/H1N1 on Sunday, bringing the total number of the flu in the populous country to 97, according to the Ministry of Health.

The first case was a 27-year-old Indian man who just came from South Africa, the second was a six-year-old Egyptian boy who contacted other cases, and the third was a 14-year-old Egyptian, Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine said in a statement.

The fourth case was a British engineer (59) who worked in Cairo and the fifth was an Egyptian woman (27) who returned from London recently, said the spokesman.

The health condition of the new cases is stable after proper treatment, said Shahine, adding that about 79 of the country's total 97 cases have recovered.

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

Egypt, the most populous Arab country 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 A/H1N1.

So far the new flu virus has caused more than 100,000 laboratory-confirmed infections in some 136 countries and regions, with 440 deaths, according to latest figures provided by the World Health Organization, which on June 11 formally announced the first pandemic in the 21st century.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2009)