Bulgarian PM’s condition said to be stable after Covid-19 positive test
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s health is stable, Deputy Prime Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said on October 26, a day after Borissov announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
The topic of one of the deputy prime ministers standing in for Borissov was not being discussed at the moment, Karakachanov said.
Bulgaria has four deputy prime ministers, two from Borissov’s GERB party and two from the ultra-nationalist minority coalition partners.
“We are holding government meetings online. We have had this practice since April, so I assume that the next meeting on Wednesday will be online again,” Karakachanov said.
Professor Assen Baltov, head of Pirogov emergency hospital, said in a television interview on the morning of October 26 that as far as he knew, Borissov’s condition was stable.
Borissov is undergoing home treatment, reportedly under the supervision of doctors from Bulgaria’s Military Medical Academy.
Bulgaria’s Health Ministry issued a statement on October 26 underlining that a negative PCR test does not mean that mandatory 10-day quarantine for contact persons may be ended.
This was linked to the resignation of Dr Dancho Penchev as head of the Sofia regional health inspectorate. Penchev had been the subject of controversy because of his decision to exempt Borissov and President Roumen Radev from quarantine in spite of them being contact persons.
Penchev had based his decision on Borissov and Radev on October 24 on both having had two consecutive negative PCR tests. On October 25, Borissov announced that he had tested positive.
Health Minister Kostadin Angelov, announcing that he had accepted Penchev’s resignation, said on Facebook that there would be no change to the order to allow the quarantine of certain officials to be lifted.
“The quarantine has the same duration (10 days) for all Bulgarian citizens. The rules are for everyone,” Angelov said.
(Archive photo of Borissov: government.bg)
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