Bulgaria has reached the peak of the third wave of Covid-19

“The peak of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulgaria has been reached. The new Covid-19 cases have plateaued and the situation will remain the same in the coming days”, said Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Professor Kostadin Angelov at the regular weekly briefing on the spread of Covid-19 in Bulgaria. The number of new Covid-19 cases has been going up in the past 14 days, stressed Minister Angelov. The situation will go back to normal within several weeks thanks to the growing number of inoculations against the novel coronavirus, added Professor Angelov.
This country’s health system is prepared to address the coronavirus crisis, added Professor Angelov. The hospitals in Sofia, Burgas, Shumen and Varna have been under the greatest amount of pressure. However, this pressure is not comparable to the pressure on people’s mental state, underlined Minister Angelov. In his words, different people are trying to play on people’s fears and hopes.

Bulgaria ranks first in Covid-19 deaths on the Balkan Peninsula

Bulgaria ranks 5th in the European Union in terms of Covid-19 incidence rate. The fourteen-day incidence rate stands at 732 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people. This country is 3^rd in the EU in terms of Covid-19 mortality - 21 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people, and first in the Balkans, Health Minister Kostadin Angelov stated at the regular weekly briefing of the health authorities.
According to Chief State Heath Inspector Angel Kunchev, compared to the second wave of coronavirus the mortality rate is considerably lower. Currently, 74% of the hospital beds for patients with moderate symptoms of coronavirus infection and 71% of the Covid-19 beds in intensive care wards are occupied. The number of active cases among medical staff is 1,216. Incidence exceeds 800 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in seven Bulgarian districts, including Sofia, Silistra and Burgas, and is below 500 cases per 100,000 people in seven districts, including Targovishte, Kardzhali and Vidin.

Bulgaria reports more than 10,000 Covid-19 patients in hospital

Bulgaria has registered a total of 4,207 new cases of coronavirus out of 17,947 tests performed during the past 24 hours, according to data of the Single Information Portal at midnight. 23.4% of the tested samples returned positive. The highest number of new infections was registered in Sofia - 1,138, followed by Varna - 367, and Plovdiv - 344.
The number of people in hospital has reached 10,093, or 282 more than the previous day. There are 772 patients in the intensive care units. 3,869 people were reported recovered. There have been 129 new deaths in the past day, bringing the total number of deaths in Bulgaria with coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic to 13,197. The active cases currently stand at 69,875.
The total number of vaccine doses administered in the country is 472,443. Of these, 13,712 were administered during the last 24 hours.
The people vaccinated with both doses are 95,003.

185 mobile polling stations available to people placed under quarantine

People who are placed under mandatory quarantine in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic will be able to vote at 185 mobile polling stations at the forthcoming parliamentary elections on April 4. However, the number of mobile polling stations may increase in the coming days.
409 mobile polling stations will be available to persons with reduced mobility. 88 polling stations will be opened in hospitals. There are 11,983 regular polling stations, representatives of Bulgaria’s Police announced at a press-conference.

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Ombudsman warn that thousands will not be able to vote

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva has called on the Central Election Commission (CEC) to resolve the problem of the right to vote of persons who are quarantined at an address different from their fixed domicile or residence. For them no possibility is provided of submitting an application to vote by mobile ballot box.
According to the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) more than 15,000 people will not be able to exercise their right to vote due to the pandemic. The deadline for people under quarantine to submit an application to vote by mobile ballot box expired on 31 March. The BHC warns that the people placed under quarantine between today and election day will be deprived of their right to vote by mobile ballot box, and that for this reason they will be taking legal action against the CEC, BGNES reports.

Almost 80% of hotel operators expect “wave of bankruptcies” by the end of the year

79.3% of hotel businesses say that the government’s pandemic measures are “chaotic and unsuccessful”, and only 20.7% describe them as “partially successful”, a national representative survey by the Bulgarian Association of Hotel Executives indicates. What is more – 69.5% of the hotel operators who took part in the survey say they expect a “wave of bankruptcies” by the end of the year.

Bulgaria lifts quarantine for most arrivals from Africa

As of today the mandatory quarantine for arrivals from some African countries has been lifted by order of the Minister of Health less than a month after it was introduced. The goal of the quarantine was to check the spread to Bulgaria of the South African variant of the virus.
Persons arriving from a number of African countries will not be quarantined if they show a negative result of a PCR test performed up to three days before entry into Bulgaria. The quarantine may be revoked upon arrival in Bulgaria upon presentation of a negative PCR test result within 24 hours of arrival.
African countries after arriving from which quarantine may be lifted are:

Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar.

Compiled by Diana Tsankova

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