Education Minister Krasimir Valchev: More students may have to switch over to distance learning

“It is highly likely that we shall have to switch over to an electronic learning environment on a larger scale,” said Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev in Svishtov where he attended the start of the academic year at the Academy of Economics. In his words the first coronavirus cases registered among students and teachers were not contracted at school. “The Minister of Health will set down the Covid-19 thresholds, above which schools will be closed,” Minister Valchev said. For the time being in-person school attendance continues as epidemiologists are not expecting a coronavirus spike.

Trade union calls for avoiding panic at schools

Podkrepa Confederation of Labour’s “Education” trade union stated it was against the idea for the regional health inspectorates to fine teachers and school headmasters if a student is not wearing a mask at school. “Let us all say, in one voice, that we are not planning any school closures, that we shall not be declaring another state of emergency and that Bulgarian children and students will receive high-quality full-time education, even in this complicated situation, something 92% of Bulgarian parents say they want,” reads an address by the trade union to the minister of health. The address also calls for school rules to be observed “without panic, psychosis or pressure.”

Prof. Kantardzhiev: There is not a single scientific article against face masks

“I don’t think it will come to school closures because the children and the parents are sensible,” said Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev, Director of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases for bTV. He said he hoped it would not come to another lockdown or that people will have to be shut up in their homes as the cold months set in. “The mass gatherings at the protests have not resulted in a spike in coronavirus cases,” Prof. Kantardzhiev said further, and added there was a tendency towards a slight drop in the number of Covid-19 cases. The immunologist expressed indignation over the way people, including doctors, have been commenting irresponsibly that the virus was weak and have been disregarding mask wearing. “There is not a single scientific article that is against face masks,” he said and pointed out that as we enter flu season, protective equipment is an additional safeguard.

Bulgaria reports 44 new Covid-19 cases

44 or 3.5% of the 1,249 PCR tests performed in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours have returned positive, according to Single Information Portal data. 6 people have died, 22 have recovered, 718 are being treated in hospital, of them 35 are in intensive care. Three medical workers have contracted coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of medical staff infected up to 1,053. The number of newly registered Covid-19 cases is highest in Sofia - 9, in Blagoevgrad and Montana - 8, in Smolyan – 5, in Plovdiv- 4. 13,580 people have recovered from coronavirus, and the death toll is 761.

Bulgaria allocates nearly 50 million euro to help farmers affected by crisis

Nearly 50 million euro will be distributed by the state to compensate farmers for the losses caused by the epidemic, the state of emergency and market losses. Nearly 35,000 farmers have applied for such assistance, BNR - "Horizon" reports. The first Covid measure has a budget of BGN 93.5 million and covers the sectors "Fruit and Vegetables", "Oil Rose", "Wine Vineyards", "Ornamental Plants", "Animal Farming" and "Beekeeping". Nearly 1,200 farmers have asked for help under the measure for all other areas of agriculture, which has a budget of BGN 5.5 million (about 2.7 million euros).

Compiled by Yoan Kolev

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