Bulgaria has received the first delivery of 2,400 doses of Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna, this country’s Premier Boyko Borissov announced at a cabinet sitting.

“The earlier the coronavirus pandemic ends, the better, because a lot of money is spent each month”, Premier Borissov commented. Bulgaria has ordered half a million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Most of the Moderna vaccines are expected to reach this country in April and May.

Anti-epidemic measures will change in February at the earliest, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov said. Minister Angelov received the first delivery of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccines.

We will study the real morbidity among teachers in order to decide whether and when students from the upper grades will return to the classrooms. For the purpose, teachers are to undergo mass testing from January 25, when the second vaccination phase covering nursing homes and teachers begins, BTA reported. We are prepared to inoculate the people who wish to participate at the sectional election commissions before the Parliamentary elections, but our main goal is to vaccinate participants in mobile sections, Minister Angelov said further.

For the first time since the beginning of November the number of Covid-19 patients being treated in hospital has dropped below 4,000, the BTA reports.

750 is the number of newly-registered coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, out of 9,647 tests performed. The highest number of new infections is in Sofia - 156 and Burgas - 65.

47 coronavirus patients have died and 2,706 have recovered over the past 24 hours, Single Coronavirus Information Portal data indicate. 3,945 Covid-19 patients are currently being treated in hospital, of them 367 in intensive care.

1,619 have been vaccinated over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of people who have been administered the first dose of the vaccine since the start of the immunization campaign up to 15,780.

The United States has introduced a requirement for all passengers arriving by air in the country to submit a mandatory negative test result for Covid-19 or a document that they have already been infected and recovered. The new measure enters into force on January 26, 2021, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced. Documents in paper or electronic form shall be transmitted before boarding the aircraft. The test must be done up to 72 hours before the flight to the United States. Airlines are obliged to refuse the carriage of any passenger who does not meet these requirements.

This year's Surva ritual will be different - not only overshadowed by the persistent virus, but also by the water element that flooded many settlements in the region. That's why the survakari will come out with their scary masks to try to drive away the coronavirus and all evil forces with a fiery dance. In their sayings, they will ask for health during the new year. The Survakari groups will parade along predetermined routes and will knock on the doors of several houses, but without entering them. Also, merging of the groups of survakari from different villages is not allowed this year.

The safety prescriptions prepared by the Regional Health Inspectorate have been handed over to the mayors. One hundred and fifty stewards in reflective vests will monitor the public's compliance with anti-epidemic rules. A thousand protective masks will also be distributed to the participants in the custom.

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