Bulgaria’s Chief State Health Inspector: Covid-19 third wave will peak before elections
The peak of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulgaria will be reached before the country’s April 4 parliamentary elections, depending on the spread of the new variants of the virus, Chief State Health Inspector Angel Kunchev said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on February 14.
Kunchev said that in recent days, out of 96 samples taken, a total of 68 had tested positive for the UK variant of Covid-19.
He said that in the UK variant of the virus, there was a gradual decline in the average age, which already was below 50 years. “There are more and more cases of younger people,” Kunchev said, adding that this variant of the virus spread faster.
He said that this month, the supply of vaccines from all companies would start accelerating.
Kunchev said that if there is a break in the curve, which is currently going up, albeit slowly, and if the incidence remains below 200 per 100 000 population, the option of opening restaurants can be considered. But he did not commit to predicting when this would happen.
This was in contrast to the message from Prime Minister Boiko Borissov on February 14. Describing the Covid-19 morbidity situation in Bulgaria currently as “good”, Borissov said that the government would keep to its commitment and restaurants would be allowed to re-open on March 1.
Kunchev warned that there was “huge fatigue” among the public with the anti-Covid restrictive measures.
“We will encounter less and less understanding of the measures, and we will encounter more emotional reactions. The result will not be good.
“Every society will write its future development depending on how much it observes the measures and how much it trusts its rulers,” he said.
Kunchev said that with 70 per cent immunisation of the population, the epidemic would end, but “this is a difficult task and I am not optimistic that we will achieve it in Bulgaria”.
(Photo of Kunchev: BNT)
The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassies of Switzerland and Finland.
The Sofia Globe has no connection whatsoever to any Bulgarian government or state institution, nor to any Bulgarian political, business or media grouping. If you would like to support independent coverage of Bulgaria, please consider supporting The Sofia Globe via its Patreon account, for as little as three euro a month, or the equivalent in other major currencies:
