“The peak of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulgaria has been reached. The new Covid-19 cases have plateaued and the situation will remain the same in the coming days”, said Bulgaria’s Minister of Health Professor Kostadin Angelov at the regular weekly briefing on the spread of Covid-19 in Bulgaria. The number of new cases of Covid-19 has been increasing in the past 14 days, stressed Minister Angeov. The situation will return to normal within several weeks thanks to the growing number of inoculations against the novel coronavirus, added Professor Angelov.

This country’s health system is prepared to address the coronavirus crisis, added Professor Angelov. The hospitals in Sofia, Burgas, Shumen and Varna have been under highest pressure. However, this pressure is not comparable to the pressure on people’s psyche, underlined Minister Angelov. In his words, various people are trying to play on people’s fears and hopes.

Bulgaria ranks 5^th in the European Union in terms of Covid-19 morbidity. The fourteen-day incidence rate stands at 732 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people. This country is 3^rd in the EU in terms of Covid-19 mortality- 21 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people. Currently, 74% of the hospital beds for patients with moderate symptoms of coronavirus infection and 71% of the Covid-19 beds in intensive care wards are occupied. 1,216 medics have Covid-19. Incidence exceeds 800 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in seven Bulgarian districts, including Sofia, Silistra and Burgas. Morbidity rate is below 500 cases per 100,000 people in seven districts, including Targovishte, Kardzhali and Vidin.

Bulgaria will receive enough quantity of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of April and people will be able to make an informed choice, said this country’s Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov. An average of 15,000 vaccines are administered in Bulgaria on a daily basis. In Minister Angelov’s view, Bulgaria is the only country in Europe where people refuse to get Covid-19 vaccines, because they want to choose between different types of vaccines. Bulgaria will receive almost 700,000 vaccine doses by the end of the month, including 350,000 RNA vaccines. Nearly 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 400,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive in this country by the end of June. On April 16, Bulgaria will receive 14,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine. Ten days later, another 24,000 of the Janssen vaccine are to arrive in Bulgaria. Currently, 277,665 vaccine doses are available in Bulgaria.

“The number of Covid-19 recoveries has exceeded the number of new Covid-19 cases for another week running”, concluded Minister Angelov. According to this country’s Chief State Health Inspector Associate Professor Angel Kunchev, the current mortality rate is significantly lower than mortality during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bulgaria’s health authorities announced that they were trying to find the right balance, in order to keep the economy open and preserve people’s mental health at the same time. However, if the number of new cases of Covid-19 increases, this country’s authorities are to tighten the anti-epidemic measures again.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov