Operational HQ: Bulgaria had a peak of Covid-19 between April 20 and 26
Bulgaria experienced a peak of the Covid-19 infection between April 20 and 26, the national operational headquarters said on May 4.
April 20 was the final day of the four-day Orthodox Easter weekend.
Operational HQ secretary Dimo Dimov said that there had been 239 new cases between April 13 and 19, 433 between between April 20 and 26 and 284 between April 27 and May 3.
He said that the mortality rate had remained relatively constant, with a slight increase in the week between April 27 and May 3.
Dimov said that as of the morning of May 4, the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Bulgaria was 1632. This is 21 more than on the morning of May 3.
A total of 321 patients have recovered.
There are 321 patients in hospital, 40 of them in intensive care.
A total of 177 medical personnel have tested positive. A doctor at the emergency medical centre in Sofia has tested positive.
The death toll among people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for Covid-19 is 74. A 48-year-old man who had cancer died at the Military Medical Academy in the past 24 hours.
Bulgarian media reports on May 4 quoted the head of the Association of Bulgarian Restaurants, Richard Alibegov, as calling for a package of economic measures to support the industry.
Alibegov was speaking ahead of a meeting on Monday between the association and Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova. The association wants the distance between tables to be less than the 2.5 metres ordered by Health Minister Kiril Ananiev.
In Plovdiv, the head of the Trakiya Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs, Enyo Enev, said that larger restaurants would await a decision on the VAT reduction that the association has demanded before deciding on opening.
Alibegov said that the rules announced by Ananiev put restaurants closer to bankruptcy than to re-opening.
Restaurateurs would have to pay rents in full but would not be profitable. “This 2.5 metres killed the desire of the business to open,” he said.
(Photo: Interior Ministry press centre)
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