Health alert: Four die of bird flu in Libya, says minister

Rida al-Awkali says fifth person suspected of having contracted virus is currently in hospital in city of Tobruk

BENGHAZI: Four people have died of bird flu in Libya in recent days, the health minister of the country’s internationally recognised government said on Saturday. Rida al-Awkali said a fifth person suspected of having contracted the virus is currently in hospital in the far eastern city of Tobruk. Three of the victims died in the capital Tripoli, while the fourth died in Tobruk, he added, without saying which strain of the disease they caught. Tobruk is across the border from Egypt where at least eight people have died of bird flu this year, according to health authorities in Cairo.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2014.