“Bulgaria is among the EU countries coping the worst both with the epidemic, and with the economic crisis,” Ivan Kostov, prime minister of Bulgaria from 1997 until 2001, said for Bulgarian National TV, BNT.

He stated that there is an extremely high death rate in Bulgaria, as has not been seen in the past 10 years. Ivan Kostov stressed that people do not believe the authorities, and that their lack of trust has been transferred to education and to the healthcare system. In his words the moral crisis and decline are to be seen all around – teachers do not want to get vaccinated, doctors are quitting or going on leave so as to avoid going into the infectious diseases wards.

“It is tragic that politics has become scorched earth, and that capable people are not getting involved in politics because they know what fate will befall them,” Ivan Kostov said.