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Swine flu toll climbs to 700 as schools closure mulled

Muslims warned to stay away from Makkah pilgrimage

AFP, Geneva
Swine flu has now killed more than 700 people around the globe, the World Health Organisation said yesterday, as experts debated whether schools should be closed to contain the pandemic.
Egypt became the latest country to warn vulnerable Muslims not to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah, after a woman returning from Saudi Arabia became the first Egyptian to die from the A(HlNl)virus.
And new figures highlighted the impact of the outbreak on tourism, with New Zealand reporting that the numbers of visitors from China, Japan and South Korea fell by half in Jurie compared with die same month last year.
The WHO has warned that the pandemic is now unstoppable and its rapid spread since it broke out four months ago was highlighted when agency spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told journalists the toll was now
"over 700 deaths."
The previous toll published by the WHO on July 6 stood at 429 deaths.
With health experts mulling how best to limit the spread, Bhatiasevi said school closures was one avenue that countries could choose to go down.
"School closure is one of the mitigation measures that could be considered by countries," she told journalists.
"Different countries would be facing the pandemic at different levels at different times, so it is really up to countries to consider what mitigation measures would suit them," Bhatiasevi added.
Her comments came after a study in The Lancet medical journal, by doctors from Imperial College London, said keeping schoolchildren at home could in some circumstances be effective against the spread of swine flu.
Countries in Europe and North America could be advised to take a look at their policies in the northern hemi-
sphere autumn, it said.
But it added: "The H1N1 pandemic could become more severe, and so the current cautious approach of not necessarily recommending school closure in Europe and North America might need reappraisal in the autumn."
With upwards of two million people expected in Saudi Arabia over the next five months on pilgrimages to the holy cities of Makkah and Medina, Egypt advised vulnerable Muslims to put their plans on hold.
The health ministry "has warned the elderly, pregnant women, children and those suffering from chronic illness not to perform the hajj or Umrah pilgrimages,” the official MENA news agency reported.
The warning came ahead of a meeting of Arab health ministers in Cairo on Wednesday to coordinate arrangements and precautions to be taken during the pilgrimage season.