Crisis staff: No confirmed coronavirus cases in Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey
There are no confirmed cases of new coronavirus in Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey, the head of Bulgaria’s crisis staff against coronavirus, General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, told a briefing on March 2.
An update posted by the World Health Organization European Region on March 2 showed that as of 10am Eastern European Time, of Bulgaria’s neighbouring countries, there were seven confirmed cases in Greece, three in Romania and one in the Republic of North Macedonia, and none in Serbia and Turkey.
Mutafchiyski said that the largest increase in newly-confirmed cases of new coronavirus was in Italy, followed by South Korea, Iran and China.
He said that two people had been admitted to the Military Medical Academy in Sofia in the past 24 hours for observation. There had been no new arrivals overnight into March 2.
Professor Todor Kantardzhiev, director of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases and deputy head of the crisis staff against new coronavirus, said that on the recommendation of the crisis staff, the Health Ministry has decided to set up two additional laboratories for the diagnosis of new coronavirus.
These laboratories were at the University Hospital in Stara Zagora and at St Marina University Hospital in Varna. The National Reference Laboratory has supplied test kits to the two laboratories, he said.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that as of March 2, a total of 2199 cases and 38 deaths had been reported in the EU/EEA, the UK, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland: Italy (1689), France (130), Germany (129), Spain (83), United Kingdom (36), Switzerland (24), Norway (19), Sweden (14), Austria (14), Netherlands (13), San Marino (8), Greece (7), Croatia (7), Finland (6), Denmark (4), the Czech Republic (3), Iceland (3), Romania (3), Belgium (2), Estonia (1), Ireland (1), Lithuania (1), Luxembourg (1) and Monaco (1).
Thirty-five deaths have been reported in Italy, two deaths have been reported in France, and one death has been reported from San Marino, the ECDC said.
