Major General Mohammed Abdel Salam Mahgoub, the Minister of Local Development said on 20/3/2009 that coordination between the governorates, Ministry of Information and Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) is maintained through internal information centers to intensify awareness campaigns about bird flu.

He said following the meeting of the Higher Committee to combat bird flu that 37.3 million birds were vaccinated so far.

He said that measures were taken to prevent the transfer of birds between the governorates through the establishment of checkpoints at the entrances and exits of the governorates.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Health is monitoring the disease in 25 governorates to determine the number and proportion of home deaths and rate of immunization.

For his part, Head of SIS ambassador Ismail Khairat said that the number of bird flu cases since the beginning of the year is amounted to 8 injuries, noting that there had been no deaths so far.

He said that the meeting of the Higher Committee discussed a number of problems related to bird flu, pointing out that one of the most important of these problems is the continuing breeding of birds in homes.

He said that the media campaign had a significant impact in increasing awareness between the citizens.

For immunization, he said that 60% of the governorates had been covered free of charge through a team of veterinary services.

He added that there is a need to educate the citizens, especially mothers for the need to separate children from the birds in the house.