Covid-19: Bulgaria’s Education Ministry urges teachers to wear protective masks

Bulgaria’s Education Ministry has written to regional departments of education calling for teachers to wear protective masks during school hours, the ministry said, adding that it had issued the call because of the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.

Current regulations do not require teachers to wear masks if they maintain a distance of at least 1.5 metres from pupils.

The Education Ministry also recommended that all staff in schools be tested at least once a week, for which the Health Ministry will provide free tests through regional health inspectorates.

The Education Ministry said that it was proposed that the entire class go over to distance learning if 10 per cent of pupils have Covid-19.

If a district is declare a Covid-19 dark red zone, meaning a morbidity rate of 500 or more out of 100 000 population, all extracurricular activities should be conducted online or postponed.

The ministry said that currently 1.03 per cent of teachers and 1.01 per cent of pupils are quarantined. The highest percentage of quarantined teachers is in Gabrovo, which earlier this week was classified as a Covid-19 dark red zone.

According to the ministry, the percentage of quarantined teachers had close to doubled since the school year began on September 15, while the percentage of quarantined pupils had tripled.

In other Covid-19 news in Bulgaria on October 1:

Bulgarian National Television, quoting the Plovdiv regional health inspectorate, said that a 29-year-old woman in the eighth month of pregnancy had died of Covid-19 in a hospital in the city.

The woman, reported to have been expecting twins, had been admitted to hospital on September 15. After her condition worsened, she had been transferred to intensive care and placed on artificial respiration. She died on September 29.

The woman had not had concomitant illnesses, and she had not been vaccinated against Covid-19, Plovdiv’s regional health inspectorate said.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said that as of midnight on October 3, Romania is implementing new restrictive measures regarding travellers from Bulgaria, which Romania has placed on the Covid-19 red list.

Those entering from Bulgaria who have not been vaccinated, have not had Covid-19 and who do not have a negative PCR test result must go into quarantine for 14 days.

The Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that in connection with the worsening epidemic situation in northern Greece, the Greek authorities had declared four regions to be red zones: Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Kilkis and Larissa.

Additional restrictions have been put in place in these four places, and will remain in effect until 6am on October 8.

No one may leave their homes between 1am and 6am except for work and health reasons. Music is prohibited in restaurants, except in the case of weddings and baptisms.

For the rest of The Sofia Globe’s continuing coverage of the Covid-19 situation, please click here.

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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