Bulgarian PM orders coronavirus mass testing in Bansko
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said on April 8 that he had ordered mass testing of residents of Bansko, the mountain resort town that had been under a 14-day quarantine up to March 31 after several cases of the virus were confirmed.
Borissov said that he had told the national operational headquarters to use rapid tests in the exercise, the aim of which was to establish how many people in the town, which had had many visiting tourists, had built up immunity.
The tests are intended to find out if residents of Bansko who had been in contact with the virus, have had mild symptoms or produced antibodies without showing any symptoms.
“Rapid tests are helpful here because they show whether people have antibodies. I have instructed the headquarters. They give advice, the government makes decisions.”
Bulgarian National Radio reported a few hours after Borissov’s statement that there was still no information in Bansko on how the testing for coronavirus immunity would be organised.
The crisis staff at Bansko municipality was awaiting instructions “and doctors’ phones do not stop ringing,” BNR said.
The report said that for more than a week, residents of Bansko had been calling for mass testing for coronavirus, with many claiming to have had the illness.
Mayor Ivan Kadev said that instructions were awaited regarding the testing, including about target groups. This would happen on Wednesday or Thursday, BNR quoted him as saying.
(Photo: Lance Nelson of banskoblog.com)