ESD 16:12:01 06-05-2021
LG1627ES.106
106 COVID-19 - MEASURES - DAILY UPDATE

Bulgaria Lifts Restrictions
on Large Gatherings
as COVID Metrics Improve


Sofia, May 6 (BTA) - Effective May 5, gatherings of people will no longer be limited to 15 persons in Bulgaria, now that the country's COVID-19 metrics have improved. The easing of the restrictions was announced by outgoing Health Minister Kostadin Angelov at a weekly news briefing on the coronavirus situation. Not a single administrative region is red-coded, and recoveries are double the number of new infections, Angelov pointed out.

The average infection rate varies from 150 to 300 per 100,000 population.

"Tests and infections statistics are true and not warped. We can now clearly identify the indications of the COVID infections. We have learnt much from practice and know which numbers are important. We rest assured, but it depends a lot on how the pandemic will be managed with all measures that may have to be loosened or tightened. What matters most is to press ahead with the vaccination rollout as vigorously as at present," the Health Minister added.

Judging from figures, Bulgarians prefer the Pfizer vaccine. Enough vaccines are available at present, and another large shipment of some 400,000 doses will arrive in the last week of May. It is up to the regional health inspectorates, the Bulgarian Medical Association and general practitioners to make arrangements for carrying on the vaccination process at the same pace. Appointment-free vaccinations will continue after May 9.

"The next prime minister will decide what will happen to the [National Coronavirus] Task Force," Angelov said. He described as "an enormous achievement" the fact that Bulgaria is emerging from the third wave with a low stringency index.

The Health Minister insisted that Bulgaria is a risk-free tourist destination. He recalled that the Robert Koch Institute has dropped Bulgaria from its list of high risk countries.

"No genetic variant of the virus is impervious to the vaccines," Prof. Todor Kantardjiev, Director of the National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, told the news briefing. "The vaccines are less effective against the Brazilian, Indian and South African variants. They have not been detected in Bulgaria, but they have already reached the neighbouring countries, he specified.

The results of vaccine trials for children over 12 are expected in June. If the results are favourable, inoculation of this age group, too, can start even in mid-June, Kantardjiev said.

* * *

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bulgaria reached 407,827 after 14,948 tests identified 1,635 new infections on Wednesday, according to data posted on https://coronavirus.bg/. The test positivity rate now stands at 8.4 per cent.

Sofia City Region tops the list of new cases with 305 positive tests, followed by Plovdiv Region with 189 cases and Stara Zagora Region with 100.

The active cases are 46,159. Currently, the hospitalized patients number 6,158, including 599 in intensive care.

The infected medical staff have reached 13,216, with 27 new cases detected since Tuesday.

Another 2,669 COVID-19 patients have recovered over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 344,895.

One hundred and sixty-four fatalities were reported, and the death toll now adds up to 16,773.

With 32,482 new inoculations over the last 24 hours, 877,124 persons in aggregate have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, of whom 251,202 have received both doses. LN/LG