There is no Covid-19 health crisis in Bulgaria

There is no health crisis in Bulgaria. Clear and precise criteria for the number of Covid-19 patients in certain areas are being developed. Let us not make people fear or panic, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov has told BTV. I don’t know where the rumors about closure of schools at the end of October came from. We are not discussing the possibility to set up Police checkpoints at the entrances of district cities either, Minister Angelov also said further.

Prof. Kantardzhiev: 25 patients per 100 thousand people is limit that should not be crossed

In September, the spread of Covid-19 in Bulgaria fell to one of the lowest levels in the EU. As a result, anti-epidemic measures were neglected. The number of Covid-19 cases is expected to rise with the onset of the winter months, Director of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Professor Todor Kantardzhiev told Nova TV. 25 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people is a dangerous boundary and we should not cross it, Professor Kantardzhiev also said.

50% of foreigners pass transit through Bulgaria

There is a drop of almost 70% percent in the number of visits by foreign nationals to Bulgaria in August, Bulgarian Statistical Institute data show. Substantially fewer Bulgarians have travelled abroad as well. As the epidemic situation continues, Bulgarians travelled abroad 471,000 times in August, which is a drop by 37.7% compared to August 2019. Foreign citizens paid 747,000 visits to Bulgaria, a 67.9% drop compared to August, 2019. A dramatic decline has been registered in both the number of visits for vacation - by 81.6%, as well as for business - 60.6%. Transit passing through the country marks a drop of 50.4%.

6.5% newly infected after 3 302 tests

216 new Covid-19 cases have been conformed in Bulgaria in the past 24 hours out of 3,302 PCR tests performed, data of the Single Information Portal show. 11 patients have died and 163 people have recovered from the coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours. 780 patients are receiving medical treatment in hospitals, 42 of whom are in intensive care wards, BNR reports.

The highest number of newly registered coronavirus cases is in Burgas district - 64, followed by Sofia city - 30, Plovdiv -22 and Stara Zagora-15. A total of 1,132 medics have been diagnosed with Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. 13 of them have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

2021 budget deficit may exceed 3% of GDP: Finance Ministry proposal

In case of exceptional circumstances, the budget deficit may exceed the threshold of 3% of the GDP, a draft of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Finance reads, investor.bg has reported. The global Covid-19 pandemic and economic stagnation put the fiscal frameworks of a large number of countries, including Bulgaria, to a severe test, the motifs of the Finance Ministry read. According to the proposal, the expenditures made with EU financing, including the national co-financing, should not be included in the budget deficit.  The proposal also reads that unspent funds can be used to implement other priority policies.

Editor: Yoan Kolev

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