Further 42,000 students in Bulgaria go back to school in-person

As of today, February 15, further 42,000 students are going back to school in-person, the Minister of Education and Science, Krassimir Valchev, told a working meeting convened by Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov, with representatives of the National Operational Headquarters (the coronavirus task force), the vaccination task force and ministers. Minister Valchev informed that nearly 2,900 classes in the country are already being taught in person as a result of yesterday's order of the Minister of Health.

"Currently, a total of 460,000 children attend classrooms in-person, and 260,000 study electronically, from a distance. Separately, there are 240,000 preschool children who attend kindergartens, " said Minister Valchev.

Prime Minister Borissov was adamant that in-person school attendance is of great importance to students. With regard to vaccination, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of the process going as quickly as possible. "The vaccine is our weapon and we must return to normal life soon, that's what people expect from us," Borissov said.

The executive director of the Medicines Agency, Bogdan Kirilov, said that the regular delivery and distribution of vaccines on the territory of the country continues. "In the last 4 days alone, we have received nearly 60,000 doses and we expect further 240,000 doses by the end of February. We already have a forecast from the three companies for the deliveries in March - they are expected to be over 500,000 doses, which will greatly speed up the vaccination process and in the coming weeks it will become clear when the fourth phase of the process will start ", Kirilov said. He pointed out that there is a real chance that by the middle of the year there will be 5 vaccines approved for use, based on which there are forecasts for the possible number of vaccinated people by the middle of the year.

The Minister of Health, Kostadin Angelov, pointed out that vaccines have been set aside for the election administration to ensure the normal course of the election process (Editor’s note: Bulgaria is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on April 4.). With regard to the new variant of Covid-19, and in particular the UK variant, Minister Angelov reported that out of 98 samples sent for analysis to the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases last week, the laboratory confirmed 68 cases of the UK variant.

The Head of of the national coronavirus task force, Ventsislav Mutafchiiski, reported on the current beds occupancy in hospitals and intensive care units. The Director of Pirogov emergency hospital, Assen Baltov, said Pirogov hospital was ready to open additional vaccination sites, including mobile teams.

The Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Denitsa Sacheva, informed the Prime Minister Borissov that the vaccination for social services staff continues smoothly and in Sofia it has already been completed. Sacheva also stressed that under the measures of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy for maintaining and creating employment, more than BGN 1 billion have been paid to businesses.

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