Covid-19 in Bulgaria: In past week, 353 deaths, 17 528 new active cases

The death toll linked to Covid-19 in Bulgaria has risen by 353 in the past week, according to figures in the November 8 daily report by the national information system.

To date, a total of 1632 people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for Covid-19 have died.

Comparing the figures in the November 1 and November 8 reports, the number of active cases has risen by 17 528 to a current total of 49 048.

The number of patients in hospital has risen by 1103 in the past week, to 3715. A total of 271 are in intensive care, an increase of 105 in the past week.

A total of 642 medical personnel tested positive in the past week, bringing the total to date to 2981.

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Bulgaria, counting in those who have died, those who have recovered and the active cases, is 74 485. This is an increase of 21 641 in the past week.

In other news related to the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria, the Foreign Ministry said that as of November 8, Germany had introduced a requirement that people who had been in a risk region in the past 10 days – Bulgaria is on the list – must register online at www.einreiseanmeldung.de.

Those arriving in Germany from high-risk regions are subject to a 10-day quarantine and are required to notify the local health authorities of their arrival and quarantine. It is possible to shorten the quarantine period, but not later than the fifth day, if a test is performed, the result of which is negative.

Separately, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said that as of November 8, the entire territory of Bulgaria has been included in Slovenia’s “red list” of countries with a severely deteriorating epidemic situation

Bulgarian citizens visiting the country, with the exception of those in transit, are subject to a 10-day quarantine. Exemption from quarantine is possible if on arrival, a negative PCR test for new coronavirus, done no more than 48 hours earlier, is presented.

The tests must be issued by an EU member state or a Schengen country and performed in a laboratory recognised by the National Institute of Public Health. At the moment, no tests are required for transit, but the person in transit must leave the country within 12 hours.

A report on November 8 by Bulgaria’s Nova Televizia television station quoted the Association of Pharmacy Owners as saying that some medications were running short, although the state had not identified a problem.

These included antithrombotic drugs, used in hospitals and for home treatment, corticosteroids, and antibiotics.

Professor Nikolai Vitanov, a mathematician who is an adviser to the national operational headquarters against Covid-19, said in a television interview that if everyone in Bulgaria started complying with the anti-epidemic measures, newly-confirmed cases would drop to 500 a day.

But he said that currently many people were not complying with the measures, and this was why there were so many cases of infection.

Vitanov said that the “optimistic scenario” he envisioned in the spring is long gone.

If people continued to not strictly follow the measures against Covid-19, by the end of November the number of infected in Bulgaria would reach 79 000, he said.

The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassies of Switzerland and Finland.

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The Sofia Globe staff

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