Bulgaria has officially declared the swine flu pandemic to be "over".

The Bulgarian Ministry of Health said that the rate of infection had dropped to 190 people for every 10,000 people.

The declaration of an end of the pandemic by the government will result in the swine flu vaccination programme being put on ice.

In a report on Bulgaria from mid November, experts from European Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that the swine flu situation in Bulgaria was no different from that in other countries in Europe in as far as the swine flu -- if it could be confirmed in a lab at all -- was a mild sickness.

Bulgaria's decision to declare an end to the swine flu pandemic raises the question: why have other countries in the European Union not declared the swine flu pandemic at an end.