Spread of coronavirus in Bulgaria at the moment is in clusters and diffusive

spread coronavirus bulgaria moment clusters diffusive

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16:27, 24.06.2020

Speaking at a press conference at the Council of Ministers on June 24, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev announced that the government had accepted the proposal of his ministry and the National Coronavirus Task Force to extend the epidemic situation in Bulgaria until July 15.

Currently, there are separate clusters of the disease in the country, but there are also new cases in some places. It can be said that the spread in the country is mixed - both in clusters and diffusive, said the Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

According to him, the problem is not in dropping measures, but in controlling them. Where they are not observed, if there was a carrier, immediately after that a new cluster of the disease is formed, Kunchev said.

Minister Ananiev read statistics on the global spread. As of June 22, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that nearly 8,926,399 cases of coronavirus infections have been registered worldwide, with 466,597 deaths.

There are 1,511,801 cases of coronavirus in the European Union, which is 16.9% of all worldwide. The death toll was 173,791, which is 37.33% of all cases.

In Bulgaria, 4114 people have tested positive for COVID-19. The fatalities are 208. The new daily cases reported over the past 24 hours are 130. One person died.

According to him, one of the alarming signals is the high number of infected medical workers in the country - doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and others.

For the last two weeks, the increase in those infected is 3.2%.

When asked about the kindergartens, Minister Ananiev said that the necessary organization for physical distance in the separate groups has been created and instructions have been given to the staff, who are required to take measures to avoid crowding. For now, there is no disturbing information about something that happened in kindergartens.

In restaurants, a distance of at least a meter and a half must be observed. Visitors should be no more than four at a table. Clients may voluntarily wear a face mask, but staff must wear a mask, shield or other protective equipment.

Assoc. Prof. Kunchev added that if the distance between people is small at different gatherings and they have intensive contact and do not wear personal protective equipment, there is a risk of getting infected. He therefore supports the call of the Ministry of Education and Science to postpone the graduation balls. Because it's not just about the students, but about large groups of relatives who get together. The risk is not for the children, but for the families, said Assoc. Prof. Kunchev. He called for postponing the graduation balls as much as possible or holding them in a way that complies with the anti-epidemic measures.

He also said that there is a risk in the Parliament, where the seats are 20-30 cm. away from each other. A conversation will have to be held with the leadership of the National Assembly, which has ideas for forms of participation in meetings and forms of voting to avoid this risk, the minister said.

He reiterated that not all forms of the virus are known yet and we may be wearing masks, at a distance of two or three metres and yet get infected.

Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev clarified that there is still no scientific evidence that the virus has started to decrease.

At the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev pointed out the main conclusions: the causative agent is a virus of unknown origin and infectivity.

"There is no evidence of effective immunity. COVID-19 poses a serious danger to society - an asymptomatic virus carrier can also be a source of the disease, not just an infectious one. There is no vaccine or specific prophylactic measure," he said.

Minister Ananiev said that no new measures will be introduced and the former restrictive measures won't be reinstated but the effective ones will stay in place.

We will rely on the anti-epidemic measures that we apply at the moment, which include: