19 confirmed swine flu cases in the EU
Adelina Marini, April 30, 2009
By 8 am CET the epidemic situation in the EU was: 10 swine flu cases in Spain, 5 in the UK, 3 in Germany and 1 in Austria, reported the European Commission. The Commission also suggested a change in the name of the virus to novel influenza virus (H1N1), because it contains genes from pig, bird and human viruses. Such a combination has never been found before in the world.
In about 40 minutes there will be a press conference after the extraordinary session of the EU health ministers in Luxembourg. Just hours before the session the Bulgarian government approved the Bulgarian position which is: "The position of Bulgaria is that our country will continue to follow the developments with regard to the novel virus and to implement all necessary procedures, according to the decisions of the EU and the World health organisation". In addition, Bulgaria has a National pandemic plan, which has already been put into action. But it's not clear what exactly this plan foresees. Bulgaria is represented at the Luxembourg session by its health minister Evgeniy Zhelev.