Covid-19: Pupils at some schools in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv go over to distance learning
Pupils at four classes at four schools in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv have gone over to distance learning because of increased cases of Covid-19, the regional health inspectorate’s Dr Milena Panayotova said on October 6.
Bulgaria’s rules about quarantine of five days for contact persons and seven days for those infected remain in place and would change only if the legislation was amended, Panayotova told Nova Televizia in an interview.
She said that there was an increase in the number of patients, but the situation remained calm.
“There are an average of 20 (new) cases a day. This is insignificantly small compared to the hundreds in previous years,” Panayotova said.
“Currently, the coronavirus is much milder, there is a vaccine for the strain that is circulating. My appeal is to observe elementary anti-epidemic measures – distance, ventilation, hygiene,” she said, adding that it was advisable to wear a protective mask in crowded places and public transport.
Symptoms currently varied among patients, Panayotova said: “Some may have only a runny nose, while others may have a dry cough, fatigue, fever, headache. However, there are far fewer cases that lead to hospitalisation. We haven’t registered a death (in Plovdiv) for four months”.
According to the government’s dedicated information portal, the Covid-19 morbidity rate in the Plovdiv district is 38.77 per 100 000 population on a 14-day basis.
Separately, Panayotova told local media in Plovdiv that queues of those wanting to get the new vaccine against Covid-19 formed every morning in front of the regional health inspectorate building in Perushtitsa Street, one of nine vaccination points in the city.
People arrived hours before the vaccination office opened and there were often arguments about who was there first, she said.
The regional health inspectorate had sufficient vaccines of the new type against Omicron XBB 1.5 and there was no danger of running out.
Some general practitioners were refusing to administer the vaccine, even though they are paid 10 leva for every dose administered, and this was putting a strain on the regional health inspectorate staff, Panayotova said.
Nationally, the new adapted vaccine became available in Bulgaria on September 27.
Since that date, the number of doses of vaccine administered per day is the highest since November 2022.
Since September 27, a total of 13 384 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been administered in Bulgaria, the highest number in capital city Sofia, 4163, followed by Plovdiv, 1443, Varna, 1008, and Bourgas 847.
Bulgaria’s national Covid-19 morbidity rate is 46.84 out of 100 000 population on a 14-day basis. When October began, it was 35.69.
Places with Covid-19 morbidity rates above the national average include the districts of Silistra, 92.5, Bourgas, 70.96, Rousse, 66.96, Gabrovo, 60.93, Sofia city, 54.38, and Veliko Turnovo, 50.07.
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