New coronavirus cluster in a hospital in Sliven, 7 medics tested positive

A new outbreak of Covid-19 was registered in a gastroenterology ward of a private hospital in the South Bulgarian city of Sliven on June 3.

Seven medical professionals tested positive for the virus, including a doctor, nurses and healthcare assistants. They are all in good condition, the regional task force said.

The ward is temporarily closed for disinfection and will not admit patients for 14 days.

Tests of medical staff continue. Most likely, the medics got infected from a patient who had coronavirus. All patients who were treated in the ward in the past month were identified by the health authorities.

The deputy head of the hospital explained that 12 medical staff from the gastroenterology ward was tested. Seven of them tested positive. One of them is a doctor, who was hospitalised in the in the infectious disease ward of the same hospital. The matron of the ward has also been hospitalised. Both are in good condition, he said.

A kindergarten in Sliven has also been temporarily closed for disinfection because a person from the staff is a contact of one of the infected medics from the gastroenterology ward. All the staff of the kindergarten will be tested.

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Twenty two new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours from 1347 PCR tests, the secretary of the national task force, associate professor Dimo Dimov said on June 3 at the daily briefing.

The new cases include 13 women, 9 men and 2 children under the age of 2.

The total number of cases in the country has risen to 2560.