Lower prevalence expected during third wave of Covid-19: Dr. Nikolay Branzalov

“We are probably at the start of a third wave of Covid-19infections but there is not going to be such a surge of infections and the curve is not going to be quite so pronounced,” Dr. Nikolay Branzalov, Deputy Chairman of the board of the Bulgarian Medical Association said for Nova TV. 
In his words the big difference in the number of infections in different regions of the country is due to the spread of the new strain of the virus. Commenting on how ready hospital and medical staff are for the new wave of coronavirus, Dr. Branzalov stated that medical practitioners are now much better prepared compared to ten months ago. In his words hospital wards can be transformed into Covid wards quickly.

In 2021, 90 days of unpaid leave to be part of length of service

Up to 90 days of unpaid leave will be considered part of the contributory service in the retirement scheme in 2021. Amendments to the State of Emergency Act to this effect were voted by parliament at second reading today. In this way, people who are on unpaid leave due to the pandemic will not to lose their right to a pension or unemployment benefits due to interruption of service and employers will be able to keep them longer at work, BTA reports.
Because of the coronavirus crisis, the government has already extended the period for unpaid leave twice, as previous to 2020, шге unpaid leave allowed was 30 days.

31,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrive in Bulgaria

More than 31,000 doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Sofia, the Ministry of Health has reported. They will be distributed to the regional health inspectorates in the country. This is the second delivery of the vaccine. The first delivery of 28,800 doses arrived on February 6.22,230 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech are expected to arrive on Monday.

Bulgaria reports 1,070 new cases of Covid-19 out of 11,816 tests performed

1,070 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Bulgaria out of 11,816 tests performed, indicate data of the Single Coronavirus Information Portal. 9% of the tests have returned positive. The highest number of new infections was reported in Sofia-258, followed by Burgas- 110 and Plovdiv-93.
There are 22,801 active Covid-19 cases at present. 3,297 patients are being treated in hospital, including 293 in intensive care units. 471 people have recovered and 34 patients have died in the past 24 hours.
4,960 people have been inoculated against Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, thus bringing the total number of vaccinations in this country to 71,123.
19,688 people have received their second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Long-term foreign residents to be able to get vaccinated against Covid-19

In 2021, vaccines against Covid-19 can be administered to persons with long-term residence in Bulgaria. This was decided by Parliament by force of amendments, voted at second reading, to the Law on Measures and Actions during the State of Emergency, declared by a decision of the National Assembly on March 13, 2020.
In addition to long-term residents, members of diplomatic and consular representations and representations of international organizations accredited to Bulgaria, can also be vaccinated. The conditions and vaccination procedure are to be determined by the national Covid-19 vaccination plan, BTA has reported.

Premiers Borissov and Netanyahu to work to facilitate travel between Bulgaria and Israel

Bulgaria’s Premier Boyko Borissov held a phone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. Borissov and Netanyahu agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in order to address the coronavirus pandemic, BTA reports.
Israel has achieved great results in the fight against Covid-19, noted Boyko Borissov. Bulgaria has managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus infection, although its anti-epidemic measures are less stringent than the Covid-19 containment measures adopted in other EU countries, Premier Borissov went on to say.
Premiers Borissov and Netanyahu agreed to work to facilitate travel between Bulgaria and Israel. As inoculation against Covid-19 progresses, the two countries will resume their active bilateral cooperation, noted Borissov and Netanyahu.

Compiled by Vesela Krasteva

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