Health Minister at news briefing on Covid-19: There is a downward trend in the number of cases

There is a sustainable downward trend in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov said on December 31 at the regular briefing on the spread of coronavirus in Bulgaria.

"The large number of recoveries is not a reason to be happy because we want the Bulgarian citizens to be healthy to meet the vaccine and then to be able to achieve herd immunity and fight this disease," said Minister Angelov.

"There is an optimistic trend, both in terms of incidence and mortality. There will be a change in the measures when this trend is sustainable," confirmed the chief state health inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

In terms of morbidity, Bulgaria is in 24th place in Europe and 5th in the Balkans. In terms of mortality, the country ranks 3rd in the EU, but also retains first place in the Balkans, he said. In Bulgaria, the districts with the lowest morbidity are Kardzhali and Montana. Sliven and Varna are with the highest.

"If the downward trend in the number of new cases persists for at least a week, we can consider relaxing the restrictive measures, but it should be taken into account that these recent data of lower number of Covid-19 cases is from the holidays, when there were several non-working days (including for laboratories), Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev explained.

The pressure on hospitals has decreased significantly. Only in the Military Medical Academy the cases of severe respiratory problems have decreased by 40-50%, said the head of the national task force, Prof. Ventsislav Mutafchyiski.