The Bulgarian Health Ministry has said that five new cases of the H1N1 strain have been found in the country. With the latest confirmed cases, the total tally of those infected by the swine flu pandemic in the country has reached 28, the ministry said in a statement late on July 23 2009. Most of those who were infected have recovered.
 
The latest victims are four women and a man, aged 16, 17, 19, 21 and 25.  All were treated in in medical facilities across the country - Sofia, Varna and Blagoevgrad.
 
Medical officials have said that their treatment is going well, and that their condition is not severe.
 
Regardless of this, the swine flu pandemic in Bulgaria is slowly but surely gathering momentum and with more people becoming infected, and the beginning of the school year only a month away, the situation could reach catastrophic proportions.
 
Of all European countries, the hardest hit is the United Kingdom. And with constant travel between the UK and Bulgaria, it is only logical to anticipate that there will be a severe escalation of infected people in this country, in spite of the optimistic medical reassurances.
 
Swine flu in the UK has reached epidemic levels in many areas, with the "under-14s — described as "super-spreaders" by the Chief Medical Officer" as they are by far, the worst hit," the Times of London has said.
 
Furthermore, according to the BBC, more than 100 000 people in England are currently infected with H1N1, which is a catastrophic rise in cases, considering that it had all occurred inside the space of one week – seven days earlier, the cases in the UK were estimated at 55 000.
 
"A total of 840 people in England are being treated in hospital after contracting the virus, of which 63 are in a critical condition. The official number of deaths across Britain linked to swine flu remains at 30," the Times said.