Covid-19: Bulgaria extends epidemic declaration to August 31
At a meeting on July 28, Bulgaria’s caretaker government extended the country’s Covid-19 epidemic declaration to the end of August.
Bulgaria declared a State of Emergency on March 13 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This continued until May 13 2020, when it was succeeded by an epidemic declaration, which has been extended repeatedly. The most recent extension was to July 31.
A Bulgarian government statement said that according to the World Health Organization, as of July 18, there were more than 190 million cases of new coronavirus in the world, and the total number of deaths exceeded four million.
The number of new cases reported between July 12 and 18 was more than 3.4 million people, an increase of 12 per cent compared to the previous year.
At the current pace of the pandemic, the total number of cases over the next three weeks is expected to exceed 200 million, the statement said.
Globally, as of July 20, Bulgaria ranks seventh in total mortality from Covid-19 and 67th in 14-day mortality.
In the age distribution of cases, there is a decrease in the incidence in all groups, while in the past few days, there has been an increase in the 14-day incidence in people under 39 and the elderly over 90.
The statement said that as at July 18, only 18.1 per cent of Bulgaria’s population had received a first dose of a vaccine against Covid-19, while 16.2 per cent had completed the vaccination cycle. In this respect, Bulgaria ranked last among European Union-European Economic Area countries.
“It is necessary to maintain the achieved decline in the registered morbidity in the country, as well as to prepare the health care system and the public health care system for response to a possible new pandemic wave,” the Bulgarian government statement said.
“The strict application of the health requirements upon entering the territory of the country by the border health control authorities, as well as the introduction of restrictions on access to the country will help reduce the likelihood of the spread of new options in our country.”
The main anti-epidemic measure in the fight against infectious diseases was vaccination, which is why it is important to improve the awareness of people of different age and social groups about the benefits of vaccination and the associated opportunity to protect their loved ones from Covid-19, the Bulgarian government said.
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