Liberation Day celebrations on Shipka peak cancelled over coronavirus risk

In connection with the recommendations of not organising mass gatherings indoors because of the coronavirus, unprecedentedly some of the events and celebrations dedicated to Bulgaria’s National Liberation Day on March 3 will be cancelled.

The official ritual on the historic Shipka peak commemorating 142 years since the liberation of Bulgaria is being cancelled on the recommendation of the national task force for countering the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

The monument remains open to the public who wish to pay their respects.

The national coronavirus task force made its recommendation in connection with the WHO’s declared urgency for the public health of international significance regarding the situation with the Covid-19.

So far, there has been no registered coronavirus case in Bulgaria, but currently an influenza B virus epidemic has been declared in several districts in the country, including Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sliven, Yambol, Stara Zagora, Sofia- district and others.

The national task force that monitors the situation with the novel coronavirus warns that "gatherings of large groups of people in one place creates the preconditions for epidemiological risks of activating the above infections" and, based on expert opinions, recommend cancelling the planned celebrations on Shipka peak on March 3.

The Presidency said that although the celebrations have been cancelled, President Rumen Radev will lay flowers and will deliver an address on the occasion of Bulgaria’s national day on Shipka peak.

Celebrations for March 3 will be held in Sofia, where a solemn ceremony will take place at the National Assembly Square, including firework display. The President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Rumen Radev, will receive the honorary formation of the representative units of the Bulgarian Army at 18.30.

The ceremony of raising the national flag will begin at 11.00 am in front of the monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia.

At 12.00 a solemn change of the guard of honour will take place in front of the official entrance of the Presidency building.