Covid-19: Children’s ward in Bulgaria’s Bourgas overcrowded – report
Extra beds are being moved into the Covid-19 children’s ward in Bourgas University Hospital because it is overcrowded, Bulgarian National Television reported on January 24.
The report quoted Dr Svetoslav Todorov, deputy head of Bourgas University Hospital, said that beds were being moved in from adult wards, where there was still capacity.
“Definitely on behalf of the management of the institution we want to say that no child who needs treatment in the hospital will be turned away,” Todorov said.
Most of the children in the ward had the characteristic symptoms – cough, fever and general fatigue, while some had developed pneumonia, he said.
In other Covid-19 news in Bulgaria on January 24:
The Ministry of Health said, in connection with the increased incidence of Covid-19 among children, that parents of children turned away from school or kindergarten because of quarantine are legally entitled to sick leave.
Parents of pupils younger than 14 who do not attend school because of anti-epidemic restrictions are entitled to monthly targeted assistance, the ministry said.
They may apply for this assistance if they are on unpaid leave because they cannot work from home, are unable to take paid leave and are not on sick leave.
A further condition for the aid to be granted is that the average income of a family member is lower or equal to 150 per cent of the minimum wage, meaning a figure of 975 leva.
Currently, 452 classes in Bulgaria are in quarantine by order of the Ministry of Education, a figure just less than one per cent of all classes in the country.
The average number of quarantined pupils in Bulgaria is 2.99 per cent.
The figure is highest in Stara Zagora, 4.08 per cent, and lowest in Gabrovo, 1.21 per cent.
The average figure for the country for quarantined teachers is 4.31 per cent. The district with the highest figure for quarantined teachers is Vidin, 7.86 per cent, while the figure is lowest in Razgrad, 1.36 per cent.
In Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia, 5.26 per cent of teachers and 3.89 per cent of pupils are quarantined.
For a week starting January 24, pupils in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth and 11th grades in the city of Sofia and the district of Bourgas are on distance learning. An exception in the Bourgas district is Ruen municipality, where pupils are attending classes in-person.
In Blagoevgrad district, Sliven and Nova Zagora, as well as the municipalities of Yambol and Straldzha, pupils from the fifth to 12th grades have gone over to distance learning.
More than 4000 pupils in Rousse have been put on a system of rotation between in-person and distance learning.
Thirteen schools in the Stara Zagora district have gone over to distance learning because of the increased number of ill pupils and teachers, the regional inspectorate of education said.
From the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March 2020 to January 5 2022, a total of 203 teachers in Bulgaria died from Covid-19, daily Sega said on January 24, citing data provided to it by the Ministry of Education.
This included 60 teachers who died between October 1 2021 and January 5 2022.
As of January 24, a green certificate is required to enter all Education Ministry buildings, the ministry said.
The document may be for vaccination, having undergone Covid-19, the presence of antibodies or a negative laboratory test, the ministry said.
The result of a rapid antigen test may be no older than 48 hours and for a PCR test, 72 hours.
A green certificate will not be required from children and adults who go only to the Education Ministry’s reception to submit documents, the ministry said.
(Photo: Lotus Head/freeimages.com)
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