Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry: 300 fined 5000 leva each for breaking ban on visiting parks
A total of 300 people have been fined 5000 leva (about 2556 euro) each for breaking the ban on visiting parks and public gardens, Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry chief secretary Ivailo Ivanov said in a television interview on March 30.
As of March 21, visiting parks and public gardens, as well as other outdoor and indoor public places, is banned as a step against the spread of Covid-19.
Gatherings of more than two people in a public place are prohibited. Police issue warnings to those violating the measures, but also they issue fines.
More than 25 000 people are under quarantine in Bulgaria, with the numbers regularly changing, for instance as more arrive home from abroad or are found to have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.
Police are empowered to check people on the street, using their personal identity numbers, to establish whether they are breaking quarantine.
Ivanov said that following the introduction of checkpoints at the entrances to and exits from major cities, to enforce the ban on intercity travel, traffic had decreased by 60 per cent. Intercity travel is allowed only for work, medical reasons, to assist an elderly relative or to return to a permanent address. Proof of these reasons must be shown, along with a formal declaration.
Meanwhile, the national operational headquarters against Covid-19 said at a morning briefing on March 30 that the total number of people who had tested positive for the virus was 354, counting eight who had died and 15 who had recovered.
Overnight, the number of confirmed cases had risen by eight, of which five were in Sofia and one each in Plovdiv, Sliven and Kurdzhali.
The largest number of the total 354 cases were in Sofia, 208, followed by Plovdiv, 20, and Varna, 17.
