Whole families, many mothers and pregnant women are suffering from coronavirus and many young people are in hospital, Minister of Health Prof. Kostadin Angelov said at a regular briefing of the  authorities. According to him, the third wave of Covid-19 is nothing like the second, but this country will come out of it successfully. The Minister added that the medical establishments were well prepared - mostly due to the fact that many of the medics have been vaccinated and there is no shortage of doctors.

Talks for providing additional vaccines continue and the decision is expected to be made at the highest level tonight, Prof. Kostadin Angelov said. There will also be an extraordinary delivery of 6,000 doses of remdesivir.

The number of coronavirus patients has increased by 23% for a week and the number of deaths by 5%, General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, Head of the National Operational Headquarters, reported.

He added that numbers were record-high as 661 per 100,000 people currently have Covid-19, while 20 per 100,000 people lose their lives because of the disease. At the same time, the number of of occupied hospital beds for patients without complications rose by 17% while the number of occupied beds in intensive care wards rose by 22%. Currently, 69% of hospital beds for people in a milder condition are occupied, as well as 70% of those for patients who need intensive care.

Bulgaria ranks 6th in the European Union in terms of 14-day morbidity, while the number of deaths places Bulgaria 4th, Chief Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev said. "If we allow gross non-compliance with the measures, doubling of the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths is possible," he warned. The highest numbers of patients are seen in the districts of Burgas, Silistra, Sofia, Vratsa and Pleven, and the lowest in Targovishte, Razgrad, Kardzhali, Vidin and Pazardzhik.

Minister of Economy Lachezar Borisov said some easing of anti-epidemic measures was underway.

Non-food stores in shopping malls will be allowed to open if they are accessible from the street or parking lot. Sites with an area of more than 300 square meters can also continue their activities if they use less space (up to 300 square meters) for their customers, for example by using partition walls. In addition, trade in open areas will be also possible.

English: Alexander Markov