Covid-19 in Bulgaria: Day 384

published on 3/26/21 7:25 PM

Photo: Ani Petrova, BNR

There are enough Covid hospital beds in the country: Health Minister

“There are 48,000 Covid-beds in Bulgaria and we have no concerns that they may run out,” Health Minister Prof. Kostadin Angelov said in Sliven. He will issue an order for all hospital ventilators to be moved next to the hospital beds to make them intensive care beds. Oxygen is being provided for the entire country.

In the words of Minister Angelov more and more people want to be vaccinated, including doctors, nurses, orderlies and teachers, and interest has climbed from 27% to 63%.

Minister Angelov did not undertake to say whether or not the additional restrictions put in place in the country would be extended beyond 31 March.

Bulgaria reports slight decrease in daily cases of Covid-19

3,988 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Bulgaria in the past 24 hours out of 17,825 tests performed, indicate data of the Single Coronavirus Information Portal. Almost 22% of the tests have returned positive result. The highest number of new infections was reported in Sofia-1,109, followed by Varna-362, Burgas-321 and Plovdiv-295.

2,161 people have recovered and 99 patients have died in the past 24 hours. There are 9,281 patients in hospital, as 769 of them are in intensive care units. There are 64,120 active cases of Covid-19.

14,292 vaccines have been administered in Bulgaria in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of inoculations against Covid-19 to 415,601. 321,104 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus infection and 12,512 people have died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Around 250,000 doses of vaccine expected to arrive in the country by end of March

Around 250,000 doses of vaccine will arrive in the country by the end of the month, Bogdan Kirilov, executive director of the Bulgarian Drug Agency said in an interview for bTV . Bigger batches of mRNA vaccines will be delivered in April – 250,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and 80,000 of Moderna. 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca are also expected to arrive in the country.

However, Bogdan Kirilov did not say whether people would be able to choose among these vaccines.

“Whereas in October and November no more than 20% of people in this country stated they wanted to get a Covid-19 vaccine, now their number has doubled with 40% saying they intend to get vaccinated,” he added.

Cabinet allocates additional 96 million Leva to healthcare system

At an extraordinary sitting the government allocated 96 million Leva to the health system, 50 million of which will go to pay the per capita sum of 1,000 Leva to frontline health workers, and the remaining 46 million – to purchase Remdesivir administered to hospitalized coronavirus patients.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov commented on the decisions by EU leaders regarding Covid-19 vaccines: “I believe that in the coming days the European Commission is going to take steps to make their proportional distribution a fact. Perhaps in April we shall have three times as many vaccines.”

More than 70% of Bulgarians to receive Covid-19 vaccines by end of summer: Pirogov director Asen Baltov

Half of Bulgarians will be inoculated against Covid-19 by the end of June and more than 70% of the population will receive Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the summer, said for Nova TV Professor Asen Baltov, Director of Pirogov Emergency Hospital.

In April, the number of RNA vaccines delivered to Bulgaria will increase threefold. Meanwhile, a second vector Covid-19 vaccine will be available and people will be able to choose their vaccine. The British coronavirus variant is extremely fast spreading and people who already had Covid-19 can be re-infected. In his view, the coronavirus infection has become a catalyst for the chronic diseases. “Our nation had very serious health problems before the Covid-19 crisis”, added Professor Baltov.

Compiled by Vessela Krasteva

You can find all stories and important publications related to Covid-19 in Bulgaria at our special coverage section in English.

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