In the past week, twenty people died of swine flu, out of 733 detected cases. However, health ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen said the H1N1 virus is "spreading within normal rates" and is much less than that of last year.

Since October, the number of swine flu victims has reached 3,214. Over the same period of last year, 14,846 cases were reported.

The 20 fatalities last week also suffered from chronic diseases.

Shaheen added that the number of swine flu cases is expected to rise in January and possibly February before subsequently declining.

Swine flu was first detected in Egypt in June 2009.

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