Bulgarian PM: If coronavirus cases rise by more than 100 a day, restrictions will come back
If the number of confirmed cases of new coronavirus increases by more than 100 a day, recently-rescinded anti-epidemic restrictions will be brought back, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said.
As of May 6, restrictions on intercity travel were dropped and open-air spaces in restaurants, coffee shops and bars were allowed to open. Five days earlier, the order requiring the compulsory wearing of masks in public places was rescinded.
In the 24 hours between the morning of May 5 and May 6, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Bulgaria rose by 69, while in the 24 hours between the evening of May 5 and May 6, the increase was 74.
On the morning of May 7, the increase in the number of cases in the past 24 hours was 53, of whom 25 people had been admitted to hospital, operational headquarters chief Major-General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski said.
The total number of Covid-19 cases confirmed to date in Bulgaria is 1811, of which 1343 are active.
There are 353 people in hospital, 38 of them in intensive care. The death toll is 84 and 384 people have recovered from the virus.
A total of 192 medical personnel have tested positive, the latest case being a nurse at Pirogov emergency hospital in Sofia.
Mutafchiyski said that while there had been an increase in morbidity, this was mainly in Yambol and Haskovo, where the cases were related to people who had returned to Bulgaria from the Netherlands and had infected entire families.
He estimated that currently one in three cases of infection were being identified.
Chief State Health Inspector Associate Professor Angel Kunchev said that all staff in all social homes were to be tested. This would take at least a week.
Eighty residents and 30 staff members of social homes had tested positive. Most of the cases were in the Vidin district.
Where tests were positive, steps were taken, such as not admitting staff who have the slightest symptoms, and closing the homes to visits. If necessary, those who were healthy would be taken out of the homes and accommodated in hotels, Kunchev said.
Bulgaria’s National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases said that distribution of the medicine chloroquine, manufactured by the company Bul Bio, was to start across the country on May 6. Mutafchiyski said that precise instructions for the use of the drug had been drafted.
(Archive photo: government.bg)
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