News briefing on Covid-19: Bulgaria is coming out of Covid-19 third wave

Bulgaria is coming out of the third wave of Covid-19, outgoing Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said on April 22 at the regular weekly briefing on the epidemic situation in the country .

“Very soon Bulgaria will become an example of achieving results with reasonable and consistent actions. Results of a kind, which many European countries could not achieve,” Angelov said.

Angelov thanked the Bulgarians who observe and believe in the anti-epidemic measures.

He said that in the past 24 hours, once again the number of people who recovered from the virus is larger than the number of those who became infected. The newly registered caces were 2,002 from 14, 215 tests. The recoveries were 3,935. 100 covid-19 related deaths were reported. 8,435 people are in hospitals, of which 786 in intensive care.

At national level, the rate of occupancy of beds in hospitals’ Covid-19 wards for patients not in need of emergency care was 61%t and in intensive care wards was 65%, Angelov said. There was a continuing trend of a larger number of recoveries than newly infected, he said.

Some 19,168 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 were administered in the past 24 hours, thus bringing the total to 676,501. A total of 143,185 people have received a second dose.

We should continue and maintain the pace of vaccination. In May, we can reach 55,000 vaccinated per day. We must continue to comply with anti-epidemic measures: wearing masks and avoiding mass events, said the outgoing Health Minister.

According to him, herd immunity can be achieved at the earliest in late June, and in the worst case - in late August.

For the period of the last 14 days in terms of morbidity, Bulgaria ranks 14th in the European Union and 5th on the Balkan Peninsula, said the Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

Before us in Europe are Cyprus, Sweden, San Marino, Croatia, France, Andorra, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Slovenia and Luxembourg. In the Balkans, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo have a higher incidence than Bulgaria, " said Assoc. Prof. Kunchev.

For the same period in terms of mortality, Bulgaria is in second place in Europe after Hungary and 3rd in the Balkans - after Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of North Macedonia.

The trend of decreasing morbidity continues. The districts with the highest morbidity are Varna, Rousse, Sofia-city, Pernik, Dobrich and Sofia-district. The lowest prevalence of COVID-19 is in the districts of Razgrad, Vidin, Pleven, Kardzhali, Veliko Turnovo, Pazardzhik, said Assoc. Prof. Kunchev.

The head of the Military Medical Academy, Gen. Ventsislav Mutafchyiski, called on the public not to relax vigilance despite the good trends.

There is still no decision on what the restrictive measures will be around Easter holidays, said Minister Angelov. The regime for entering the country is currently being discussed and a decision is expected by the end of the week, he confirmed.

He announced that the emergency epidemic situation in the country should continue. Assoc. Prof. Kunchev yesterday submitted a report to extend it by one month. "The decision is for a month, so as not to hinder the actions and decisions of the future government. If there is a next government, it will be able to revise this decision, "Angelov added.

The European Medicines Agency continues to analyze and evaluate all vaccines approved for use, said the director of the Medicines Agency in Bulgaria Bogdan Kirilov.

"Earlier this week, the EMA said the overall benefit-risk ratio of the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine remains positive, following further analysis of safety data, which allows EU countries to continue their vaccination campaigns, including this vaccine," he added.

Today, the outgoing Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov will be heard in the Health Committee of the National Assembly in connection with the pandemic. Health priorities and related forthcoming legislative initiatives will be discussed.

Last week, the National Operational Headquarters (the coronavirus task force) was disbanded by order of outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. But after criticism, it became clear that the task force would remain working until a new one was elected.

images by Dessislava Kulelieva