Chief State Health Inspector: Arrival of coronavirus in Bulgaria ‘inevitable’
The arrival of new coronavirus in Bulgaria is inevitable, Chief State Health Inspector Associate Professor Angel Kunchev said on February 27, as the head of the crisis staff against the disease said that as of now, there were no confirmed cases in the country.
“The time for border protection is over. Imports of the new Covid-19 coronavirus are inevitable. This has been clear for a long time to anyone working in the field,” Kunchev said.
“From now on, the focus should be on receiving and treating patients in order to minimize harm and loss,” he said.
The arrival of new coronavirus in Bulgaria was inevitable because there were already cases in almost all Balkan countries, Kunchev said.
Speaking at a regular briefing on February 27, crisis staff chief Professor Ventsislav Mutafchiyski said that 14 people, including four foreigners – Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Egyptian – had been admitted to the Military Medical Academy after arriving from Italy and having shown symptoms.
Thirty-four flights arrive in Bulgaria from Italy each week, most landing at Sofia Airport’s Terminal 1.
Processing of passengers had been re-organised because of the workload. Arrivals from Italy at Terminal 1 would go through a separate corridor to shorten airport arrival time for passengers.
The World Health Organization European Region said in an update on the morning of February 27 that there were 481 confirmed cases of Covid-19 new coronavirus in Europe, with 14 confirmed deaths.
Seven European countries reported their first cases in the past 24 hours: Estonia, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Georgia, North Macedonia, and Romania, WHO European Region said.
Countries with confirmed cases were Italy 400, Germany 21, France 17, Spain 12, UK nine, Croatia three, Austria two, Finland two, Israel two, Russia two, Sweden two, Belgium one, Denmark one, Estonia one, Georgia one, Greece one, North Macedonia one, Norway one and Romania one.
