Covid-19: Bulgaria’s capital Sofia orders night clubs closed for two weeks
Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia is ordering night clubs to close for two weeks with effect from October 25, mayor Yordanka Fandukova said after a meeting of the municipal crisis headquarters against Covid-19.
The number of newly-confirmed cases of new coronavirus in the Bulgarian capital in the past week, taking together the figures from the October 18 to 24 national information system reports, is 2782. To date, 10 445 cases have been confirmed in Sofia.
Fandukova said that she would recommend to universities in the city to go over to distance learning.
“Even today we have an increase in the number of infected and, more importantly, an increase in the number of people in hospital and people in need of treatment in intensive care units. This poses a serious challenge to the health system of our city,” she said, according to a report by Bulgarian National Radio.
She said that the municipality was recommending to employers to allow staff to work from home where possible.
“Of course, we are continuing with the strengthened control regarding wearing masks and maintaining distance in public transport, in commercial establishments, everywhere where people gather. We must do everything possible to reduce this pace, because Sofia has long since entered the red zone,” Fandukova said.
The city of Sofia follows other places that have ordered night clubs and discos shut as a response to the soaring number of new coronavirus cases. The districts of Sliven and Shoumen have taken similar steps.
Bulgaria’s national information system report on October 24 said that there had been 13 deaths in the past day of people who had tested positive for new coronavirus.
A total of 9831 PCR tests were done in Bulgaria in the past day, of which 1589 proved positive.
The number of active cases rose by 1307 in the past 24 hours to 17 340.
There are 1886 patients in hospital, an increase of 94 in the past 24 hours. There are 127 in intensive care, an increase of 15.
Professor Boris Bogov, head of the Alexandrovska Hospital in Sofia, told Nova Televizia in an October 24 interview that there were no beds left for Covid-19 patients at the hospital.
Alexandrovska Hospital is not only one of the largest hospitals in Sofia, but in Bulgaria as a whole.
“We will have to open another Covid ward. It will have a capacity of about 25 to 30 beds. If after the New Year, the situation does not calm down, we will convert other wards as well,” Bogov said.
(Photo: Manu Mohan/freeimages.com)
The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland.
For the rest of The Sofia Globe’s continuing coverage of the Covid-19 situation, please click here.
The Sofia Globe is an independent media outlet, free of ties to any corporate or political groups. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com and get access to exclusive subscriber-only content. Please click on the “Become a patron” button below:
