Bulgaria is among EU countries with alarming Covid-19 trends

As of September 13, the Covid-19 situation in seven EU countries - Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Malta has been described as alarming, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warns.The director of the center in Stockholm Andrea Ammon, announced that there were three groups of countries - low, moderate and high risk ones. The latter group are countries with very alarming trends. In them we see an increased number of cases, an increase in the ratio of hospitalized patients and acute cases, which is probably due to this rise. In these countries there is also rise in reported deaths. There the risk is high, especially for vulnerable people, BNR has reported.

Opening sports halls for audience being prepared

Required documents are currently being prepared in order for spectators to be able to attend championships indoors, starting October 1, Minister of Sports Krasen Kralev has announced. Minister Kralev pointed out that safety measures for sport halls are currently being developed and they would be sent to the Ministry of Health for approval.

Bulgaria reports 160 new Covid-19 cases

160 or 4.5% of the 3,526 PCR tests performed in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours have returned positive, Single Information Portal data show. 12 people have died, 119 have recovered, 726 patients are being treated in hospital, of them 29 are in intensive care. The number of newly registered coronavirus cases is highest in Sofia – 38, in Bourgas – 35 and in Stara Zagora – 15. No new Covid-19 cases have been registered in 6 districts of the country. A total of 19,280 people have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic, and the number of active cases is 4,637.

Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov: Closing schools will harm children’s psyche

“Closing schools because of the coronavirus epidemic is not the right thing to do because a child’s psyche is fragile and problems will appear in future,” Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov, deputy chair of the Bulgarian Medical Association said for the BNR. “There would be no additional serious outbreaks if precautions were taken, and if teachers and parents taught children to protect themselves,” he said. “Masks provide the best protection.” According to Dr. Brunzalov, children should not be taught online. “With children the coronavirus infection is mild and asymptomatic, but teachers ought to be protected and keep a safe distance,” Dr. Nikolay Brunzalov added.

Pharmacies are out of anti-flu vaccines

“The pharmacy network has been out of flu vaccines for two days,” said Nikolay Kostov, chair of the Association of Pharmacy Owners for the BNR. “88,000 vaccine doses were supplied at the beginning of the month, and another 140,000 doses will be put on sale within ten days.” According to Nikolay Kostov, people should not delay buying flu vaccine because they will be sold out soon. The vaccine shortage is due to the fact that every year the number of doses imported equals the number used the previous year. A total of 340,000 flu vaccines have been envisaged for this season. “That is usually enough in this country, but not in a situation of pandemic,” Nikolay Kostov added.

Russia sends Bulgaria medicine against Covid-19

The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russian pharmaceutical company Chemrar have agreed to supply the drug Avifavir against the novel coronavirus to 17 foreign countries, including Bulgaria, TASS has reported, quoted by BTA. Avifavir has already been delivered to 6 countries. Deliveries are expected for another 17 countries. With the exception of Bulgaria and Serbia, all other countries are from Asia and South America. In May, Avifavir was registered by the Russian Ministry of Health and became the world's first drug based on the substance favipiravir approved for the treatment of Covid-19. More than 60,000 packs of Avifavir have been delivered across Russia itself, TASS reports.

PM Borissov: Bulgaria had the fastest and most adequate reaction to Covid-19

“Bulgaria had the fastest and most adequate reaction to both the medical and the economic threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Prime Minister Boyko Borissov writes on Facebook and adds that the measures taken were put into effect very early on and reached a great many people. “The 60/40 wage support scheme alone saved over 300,000 jobs,” the Bulgarian prime minister writes further. “If it weren’t for the government’s measures, unemployment, which now stands at 7.5%, would have been 14%,” he added. According to Boyko Borissov, since 13 May the number of unemployed has been going down by 400-500 persons a day. The prime minister writes further that the most difficult times for the health system and for the economy are yet to come, but that data show that this country is on the right track.

80% decline in tourism because of Covid-19

80% fewer tourists have spent their summer holidays in Bulgaria due to the coronavirus epidemic, and 30% of the staff in the tourism industry have lost their jobs, these are the figures presented by Polina Karastoyanova, Executive Director of the National Board of Tourism in an interview for Nova TV. She added that bankruptcies are a distinct possibility and that it may well be impossible to service credits. “At some point it may well turn out that banks will own tourism and that is a very bleak prospect,” Polina Karastoyanova commented, and added that after Covid-19 the tourist sector, as we know it, can no longer exist. “The state must enter the industry as investor and set down master plans for the development of required infrastructure,” Polina Karastoyanova added.

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Editor: Yoan Kolev