News briefing on coronavirus: No need to tighten measures or introduce new ones

There is no need to tighten the anti-epidemic measures or impose new ones. The only thing we will continue to do is control over the compliance with the existing measures, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov said on October 8 at the regular weekly briefing of the National Operational Headquarters (Task Force) for Combating Coronavirus at the Ministry of Health.

437 are the new cases of coronavirus in the country from 4,541 PCR tests. 138 people have recovered. 1,033 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals, 53 of whom are in intensive care units. Eleven people died in the past 24 hours.

There is no increase in the number of hospitalized patients in medical institutions, there is even a decrease compared to last week, assured Prof. Angelov and said that people should be calm.

There is an increase in the cases among medical staff. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 1,263 medical professionals have tested positive for coronavirus. To date, there are 278 active cases, 229 have been placed under home treatment, 43 have been admitted in medical institutions, and 6 of them are in intensive care units.

On October 8, the new cases of medical workers infected with the virus were 26, the minister summed up.

To date, 101 children and students are with coronavirus . 3,268 are quarantined. The total number of sick teachers from kindergartens and schools is 133, quarantined are 119. As an example, Prof. Kostadin Angelov explained that these figures mean that 3 classes per 1,000 are quarantined.

In Europe, Bulgaria is in 24th place in terms of morbidity and 7th in mortality, said Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev. Compared to the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria is 5th in morbidity, after Romania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, and 4th in mortality, after Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Romania.

The medical institutions are prepared for the situation, said Prof. Asen Baltov, director of the Pirogov Emergency Hospital in Sofia.

The total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in the country is 22,743, of which 6,422 are active. 1,033 have been hospitalized. 15,448 have recovered.

The briefing was told that the Voenna Rampa refugee centre in Sofiia was placed under quarantine as of October 8 because of an outbreak of coronavirus.