Covid-19: Bulgaria amends rules on intercity travel
Bulgaria’s Health Minister Kiril Ananiev issued on March 26 an order amending the rules on intercity travel, to facilitate passage through the checkpoints at the entrances to and exits from the country’s 27 regional centres – meaning, the capital cities of its districts.
People will be allowed through only if the journey is urgent, the Health Ministry said on its website, listing the permissible reasons.
These reasons include employment at the destination, health reasons for the traveller or loved ones, return to a current or permanent addresses or an address where the traveller is residing temporarily – if different from the permanent address, the need to take care of relatives at an address different from the traveller’s permanent address, and the necessity to supply for themselves or people they are taking care of essential goods when there are no commercial outlets or pharmacies in the settlement at their permanent or current address from which to get these goods.
To prove these reasons, depending on which is being cited, the traveller must present a certificate from the employer for tax purposes or a card certifying employment, a medical document, an identification document and a formal written declaration by the person as to the reason for the trip.
Ananiev’s order says that drivers and passengers in lorries and vehicles used for essential consignments and cargoes need present only an identity document and an official note from the employer or an employment card.
Vehicles that will be given priority include those of food chains and pharmacies, those supplying food and medicine, those serving strategic sites as defined by the government, the vehicles of water supply and sewerage companies, electricity and heating supply companies, and those involved in emergency repairs and activities. Vehicles with people in need of emergency medical care also are given priority.
The measures introduced by Ananiev’s order will remain in force until explicitly repealed, the Health Ministry said.
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(Photo: Jeff Hire/sxc.hu)