Bulgaria’s national day ceremony on Shipka Peak cancelled after call by crisis staff against coronavirus
On the recommendation of Bulgaria’s national crisis staff against new coronavirus, the traditional annual ceremony on Shipka Peak in celebration of the country’s March 3 national day has been cancelled, the district administration of Stara Zagora said on its website.
People wishing to visit to the monument on Shipka Peak will be allowed to do so, the administration said.
The Shipka Peak celebrations are a focal point every March 3, as Bulgaria’s leaders and thousands of members of the public come together to celebrate the country’s liberation from Ottoman rule, at a location of a key battle in the Russo-Turkish war.
The crisis staff based its recommendation, in a letter to Bulgaria’s President, National Assembly Speaker, Prime Minister and other officials, on the basis of the public health emergency declared by the World Health Organization because of the Covid-19 new coronavirus.
Gatherings of large groups of people put at risk public health, the crisis staff said.
Although there have been no confirmed cases of new coronavirus in Bulgaria, recent days have seen an increase in type B virus influenza in the districts of Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sliven, Yambol, Stara Zagora, the district (not the city) of Sofia, among other places. On March 2, flu epidemics were declared in Varna, Bourgas and the municipality of Blagoevgrad, closing schools until March 6 inclusive.
(Photo: Georgi Chorbadzhiyski)
