The number of new people infected by the H1N1 strain is decreasing daily and the "situation in the country is stabilising", Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on November 18 2009.

Schools reopened for classes across Bulgaria on November 16, and two of the regions that kept the "holiday" going for an additional day, the Municipality of Bourgas and the town of Silistra, will follow suit on November 18.

Haskovo and Dimitrovgrad, however, did not open their schools on November 17 and reportedly will keep them shut until November 19.

Meanwhile, a mass inoculation programme started in Greece on November 17. Major hospitals in Athens and across Greece reported an influx of people wished to be vaccinated.

"The vaccine constitutes an important weapon and shield for public health in the face of the new flu pandemic," Greek health minister Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou was quoted as saying by the Greek Kathimerini.

In spite of the inoculation programme, reports say that the Greek population still remains largely pessimistic and dismissive of the importance of the vaccine, deeming it unnecessary altogether. More than 60 per cent of the population say they will not bother, either because they do not perceive the strain as a major threat or because of health concerns associated with the jab itself.

Priority in Greece will be given to health workers, mothers, children, the elderly and those with chronic ailments, on what have been designated as phase one and phase two of the inoculation programme. Subsequently, on December 1, the third phase of the administration of the vaccine will begin, aimed at people aged 18 to 49, followed by the final phase on December 7 with the inoculation of children aged up to 17 and those over the age of 50, Kathimerini said.

In Bulgaria, anti-viral vaccines worth 12 million leva are due to arrive at the start of January 2010, by which point the first wave of the epidemic would have passed through the country, experts say. Bulgaria has asked the European Union to urgently allocate 200 000 Tamiflu and Relenza doses, with Austra responding with a delivery of 1440 Tamiflu doses, which were delivered in Sofia on November 13 2009.