France's swine flu epidemic ends
UK government abandons weekly briefings
The swine flu epidemic in mainland France that has killed hundreds has ended, a monitoring group of doctors has said.
"It's the end of the epidemic," Thierry Blanchon, one of the doctors of the Sentinelles flu monitoring network, said.
The number of cases of the fever reported to doctors has "fallen below the epidemic level for the past two weeks," he said. "The virus is certainly still spreading, but at a very weak pace."
He added that vaccinations should continue in order to prevent a resurgence of the A(H1N1) flu virus, which health authorities say has killed 240 people in mainland France.
Meanwhile, the British government abandoned its weekly swine flu briefings in another sign that the crisis has eased dramatically.
New cases in the UK plunged over the past month prompting the Department of Health to abandon its regular media briefing.