Some districts in Bulgaria tighten Covid-19 restrictions as Omicron cases surge

In Bourgas, the measures will be tightened from Monday. Some school pupils and all university students will switch to online learning. A decision is expected to be made for the anti-epidemic measures in Sofia as well - from Monday the children will take turns in class and online. More restrictions are being considered in the capital from Wednesday, which will affect restaurants and other public places. Tightening of measures in other cities is also being discussed.

Angela is from Sofia and is in fifth grade. She has an older brother, in tenth grade. If the health authorities approve the proposal to rotate the students, Angela's brother will go to in-person classes. She will stay at home and study online.

There are not many quarantined classes at Angela's school, but the principal has difficulties to find substitutes for the infected teachers.

"We need this rotation of classes now to limit the spread. It is really necessary," said Maya Zafirova, head of 140th school "Ivan Bogorov".

The rotation will not affect the term marks.

The students in Bourgas will be on rotation from Monday. The children from 1st to 4th grade and the students from 7th, 10th and 12th grade will go to school in-person. Other restrictions for children will be introduced.

"Children will be admitted to public facilities, shopping malls, cinemas, restaurants, etc. only in the presence of a parent, guardian. The total number of children with Covid-19 for the past 14 days is 1,256 ", said Dr. Georgi Pazderov, Director of RHI-Bourgas.

"The idea is not to introduce online learning for students, but then to gather in malls and mix with people," said Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev, chief state health inspector.

Students from 1st to 12th grade in Sliven and Nova Zagora are switching to online learning.

Each district decides for itself what measures to introduce. In Sofia, for example, it is being discussed that restaurants will be open until 10 pm with 50% of their capacity.

"And full compliance with the requirement for green certificate for access to these places," said Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

"It is not clear why businesses that operate with a green certificate will be subject to new restrictions," said Emil Kolarov, chairman of the Association of Restaurants in Bulgaria.

The association of restaurants demand the resignation of the chief state health inspector.

"Colleagues will probably not comply with the new restrictions that are imposed only on us," Kolarov said.

Due to the high morbidity, Vidin, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Pernik and the Sofia region also consider tightening of the measures.

"When a decision is made specifically for a certain area or for separate municipalities, we already react according to the specific situation at the moment. It is very dynamic at the moment, because the morbidity curve is going upwards very sharply," said Assoc. Prof. Kunchev.

According to Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, the new plan for managing the Covid crisis is yielding results.

"Many of the districts are not closed because we are monitoring the critical factors in the health system. For now, the measures really remain very soft," Petkov said.

Tomorrow, the Sofia Regional Headquarters is expected to decide whether the measures will be tightened or not. Restrictions on restaurants and other facilities of importance for public health in the capital are expected to take effect on January 26th.

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