Bulgaria’s PM: Restaurants re-open on March 1, nightclubs on April 1
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boiko Borissov told a February 24 Cabinet meeting that restaurants and gambling halls would be allowed to re-open on March 1 and nightclubs on April 1.
Borissov cited the fact that close to 150 000 people in Bulgaria had been given vaccinations against Covid-19, while more than 200 000 people had recovered from the disease.
A Bulgarian government media statement said that Borissov told Health Minister Kostadin Angelov to discuss, at a meeting to be held later on February 24 with restaurant industry representatives, “the necessary actions regarding the readiness of restaurants and bars to work from March 1”.
Borissov said that vaccination against Covid-19 should continue at an accelerated pace and mobile teams immunise those in remote settlements, which would enable sectors closed because of the pandemic to resume work “under certain conditions and capacity”.
He said that in Bulgaria “with strictly observed measures that are the same time the most liberal in Europe” results were being maintained that enabled people to live normally.
“Bulgarians do not feel that there is a pandemic, as in other European countries. So let’s continue in this way,” Borissov said.
Angelov said that all mayors in the country had been informed about the possibility of applying for mobile teams and the health authorities were assisting them as soon as possible.
Borissov’s statement at the February 24 Cabinet meeting is in sharp contrast to statements by Angelov in recent weeks, that a morbidity rate of more than 200 per 100 000 population in Bulgaria would trigger a decision to tighten the anti-epidemic measures.
As of February 24, Bulgaria has a morbidity rate of 206 per 100 000 population, on a 14-day basis, while two-thirds of the districts in the country are classified as “red zones” for Covid-19 for being over the 200 per 100 000 population threshold.
For several weeks, daily reports by the national information system have shown a gradual increase in active cases of Covid-19 in Bulgaria, as well as the numbers of those in hospital.
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