The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday that it has allocated 120 million Egyptian pounds (about 21 million U.S. dollars) for poultry vaccination against the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, the official MENA news agency reported.

Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza said that farmers' poultry will be vaccinated against the virus at state expense.

Some 6.5 million Egyptian families raise poultry at home in countryside, he said.

Abaza's announcement came one day after Egypt reported its 26th human bird flu case, which was identified as a two-year-old boy.

Of the 26 human cases, 13 died and 10 recovered while the other three are still under treatment.

Egypt found the first bird flu case in dead poultry on Feb. 17, 2006 and then the virus spread to 20 of the country's 26 governorates. Egypt reported the first human bird flu case on March 18 of 2006.

Source: Xinhua