News briefing on Covid-19: Introduction of local measures against the spread of COVID-19 in Bulgaria is being considered

Introduction of local measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Bulgaria is being considered, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health, Prof. Kostadin Angelov, said on March 4 at the regular briefing on the epidemic situation in the country. The reason for this is the large difference in morbidity in the different areas.

"On a national basis, the occupancy of beds for uncomplicated Covid-19 patients is 48%, and for intensive care - 57%. As bed occupancy is not diffusely increased across the country, but only in certain areas where morbidity is differently increased, we are discussing at the level of the National Operational Headquarters and the Ministry of Health to apply a local approach to anti-epidemic measures and controlling the epidemic in these places, announced Prof. Kostadin Angelov.

In the past 14 days there has been a trend for a gradual increase in the numbers of both morbidity and hospitalisations, he added, but also emphasized the positive trend in the number of recoveries and the increase in the number of newly registered cases.

"The number of recoveries last week was 3,117 compared to 8,780 confirmed cases, the ration being close to 3 to 1. For this past week, the number of recoveries is 6,996, and the number of confirmed cases is 11 057, which makes a ratio of 2 to 1," he said.

The situation in the country is due to the circulation of the new UK variant of the coronavirus. Yesterday at the meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev confirmed this, the Minister noted.

"The increase in cases is also due to the new variant being highly transmissible," explained the Minister of Health.

Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev reminded that today the task force in Bourgas decided to cancel the non-emergency admission to one of the hospitals.

"We think this is the right decision. I even recommend the other task forces, especially in Kyustendil, Vratsa, Pleven, Sofia, to also consider similar actions. Where there are many medical institutions, such as in Sofia, it does not necessarily apply to all hospitals, but it is necessary for those which are busy, those which currently bear the greatest burden," said Assoc. Prof. Kunchev.

He confirmed that the main reason for the increase in cases is the UK variant of the virus, the percentage of which continues to grow in all test results in Europe.

"But then there is a South African variant, a Brazilian one, there are reports about a Nigerian variant. It's too early to say what their characteristics are, it's too early to be afraid. When someone accuses us of creating fear and psychosis, I hope they realize what the other thing is - to be silent and not tell the truth when it is most needed, " added the chief state health inspector.

"The 14-day morbidity reached 285 per 100,000, which gives our country 18th place in the EU and 5th place on the Balkan Peninsula.

The most affected country at the moment is the Czech Republic. If Bulgaria had had its morbidity, we would have had 12,015 new cases today. This is possible to happen in Bulgaria as well, " added Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

According to him, other countries such as Slovakia and Malta have a similar incidence.

"Whether we will reach such peaks in this third wave or not depends entirely on the behaviour of each one of us - whether people continue to believe that it is a danger and to comply with the measures or not. There is a big difference in morbidity in different regions, in Kyustendil it is 487 per 100,000 people, and in Targovishte 26 per 100,000 ", noted Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

Currently, about 250,000 people are vaccinated in our country. 41,000 received a second dose of the vaccine, Prof. Krassimir Gigov, Chairman of the Vaccination Headquarters in Bulgaria said.

About 30,000 employees involved in maintaining the functioning of basic public life activities, 26,000 doctors, 16,000 healthcare professionals, 11,000 participants in the preparation and implementation of the election process have been vaccinated, he said. General practitioners are already actively participating in the vaccination campaign - about 45,000 of them have been vaccinated.

The vaccination process will continue with the arrival of new doses of vaccines in our country, Prof. Gigov said.

About 45,000 people are vaccinated by general practitioners, but unfortunately this number is absolutely insufficient, as in one practice more or less one vial is placed, which is 10-11 doses, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of BMA Dr. Nikolay Branzalov said.

"We want this process to be accelerated in connection with the fact that the Astra Zeneca vaccine is the most convenient in terms of logistics for our practices, as well as to distribute larger quantities in order to cover the risk groups of the population," explained Dr. Branzalov. These people have been waiting for a long time for a vaccine, most of them have not been out for almost a year, have not seen their grandchildren and children, he stressed.

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