Immunologist: Many coronavirus cases probably go undetected

“Against the background of the growing number of fatalities I very much doubt that the number of infections is not going up as well,” said epidemiologist and lecturer at Oxford Petar Markov for the BNR. In his words many coronavirus cases probably go undetected. 
“The best indicator of this is the number of fatalities,” he said. In his words the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control put Bulgaria among the top 5 high-concern countries precisely because of the constant increase in the number of deaths. 
Petar Markov stated that the mortality rate is lower in Western Europe because of better treatment for the people in serious condition, and because of the younger profile of the people who have contracted Covid-19, whereas in this country it is mostly older people who get infected.

Bulgaria reports 169 new Covid-19 cases, 6.2% of the tests performed

169 is the number of new Covid-19 cases registered in 24 hours, or 6.2% of the 2,710 PCR tests performed,indicate data of the Single Information Portal. No fatalities have been reported,28 people have recovered, 791 remain in hospital, of them 36 are in intensive care. The number of newly registered infections is highest in Sofia - 34, in Blagoevgrad – 27 and in Pazardzhik – 22. 
A total of 19, 997 people in the country have been infected with coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, the number of active cases is 5,048. The death toll is 789.

Blood type affects coronavirus infection: Immunologist

“There is serious evidence that the blood type affects coronavirus infection,”said immunologist Assoc. Prof. Velizar Shivarov for Nova TV. 
In his words, with people with blood type 0 the risk of infection is smaller,and if they do contract Covid-19, it will, likely, be a mild form of the disease. According to Assoc. Prof. Shivarov “the first registrations of a new vaccine could be at the end of this or the beginning of next year. As flu season approaches the immunologist recommends more exposure to sunlight and avoiding high-risk contacts.

Two companies and one class of first-graders in region of Pazardzhik under quarantine

One class of first-graders at the Hristo Botev school in Pazardzhik will be quarantined after a schoolteacher contracted coronavirus. The workers from two companies in the town of Peshtera will also be quarantined after 18 employees tested positive for Covid-19.

Schoolteacher from Lom tests positive for Covid-19

A primary school teacher and her whole class have been quarantined, the regional health inspectorate – Montana has announced. They all have symptoms but are in good health.

Sums Bulgarian expats send back to the country down by EUR 370 million due to coronavirus

The sums Bulgarians living abroad send back to their families in this country have dropped dramatically, according to Bulgarian National Bank data. The money transfers have gone down by 370 million euro over the first 6 months of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 636 million euro entered the country last year, whereas this year this figure is 266 million. 
According to Latchezar Bogdanov from the Institute for Market Economics this fact will affect Bulgaria’s economy. “For households who regularly receive money transfers this will be a serious blow to their incomes,” he commented for Nova TV. The economist predicts that, if the crisis in tourism continues, seasonal jobs will be lost. “The corona-crisis will catalyze serious reforms,”he says.

Minister of tourism seeks extension of 80/20 measure

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Mariyana Nikolova is seeking an extension of the 80/20 anti-crisis measure until May 2021, the Ministry of Tourism has announced. In her words, around 22,000 jobs in the tourism industry have been saved by the 60/40 measure, transformed for the hotel and restaurant business into 80/20. 

Compiled by Diana Tsankova

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