9 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Bulgaria.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Bulgaria rose to 685, the National Crisis Headquarters announced. 6 new cases have been registered on April 13- five of them are in Sofia and 4 in Stara Zagora. 384 men and 301 women are diagnosed with the new coronavirus. The Covid-19 deaths reached 32. The last victim of the coronavirus is a forty-three-year-old man from the town of Peshtera who was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. He passed away in the hospital in Pazardhik.

Bulgaria is far from Covid-19 peak

Bulgaria has not reached the peak of the coronavirus infection. Serious tests at critical places are yet to be done. I deeply hope that we will not reach high levels of infection, but it depends on all of us, this country’s Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev said. The farmer’s markets will be opened after Easter, if people continue to adhere to the anti-epidemic measures, Minister Ananiev told journalists during his inspection at Dimitar Petkov farmer’s market in Sofia. If we find consistency in the behavior of traders and clients, we will do our best to open the markets after Easter. Our aim is to preserve people’s health, Minister Ananiev further said.

New green corridors for transport of goods through Bulgaria have been set up

2 new routes were added to the green corridors for transport of goods through Bulgaria, the Road Infrastructure Agency announced. The first route is from Danube Bridge-Ruse via Sofia to Kulata border checkpoint at the Bulgaria-Greece border. The second route is along Trakia motorway to Burgas Port. Druzhba (Friendhsip) ferry line is part of the transport corridor Europe-Caucasus- Batumi (Georgia). From Batumi Port the corridor continues to Armenia and Azerbaijan. The map is published in Green Corridors section of the web sites www.api.bg and www.bgtoll.bg.

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences develops three scenarios for macroeconomic consequences stemming from Covid-19 epidemic

The macroeconomic impact scenarios and the measures undertaken in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus infection are developed in a report of the Economic Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. According to the optimistic scenarios, the peak of the epidemic will be in the middle of May and there will not be a second wave of infected people and the economy will start functioning normally in the second half of the year. The realistic scenario shows that the peak of the coronavirus disease will be at the end of June and the beginning of July. The anti-epidemic measures will be lifted gradually and some of them may be introduced again. Bulgaria’s GDP will see a 4.4% decline, inflation will reach 4.2% and unemployment will rise to 10%, the realistic scenario further reads. According to the pessimistic scenario, the peak of the infection will be in August. The anti-epidemic measures will be lifted periodically, GDP will decrease by 5.7%, inflation will soar to 5.2% and unemployment will reach 12%.

Bulgaria develops coronavirus medicine

Bulgaria will produce a medicine for treatment of coronavirus and the raw material is currently expected, General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski announced. For the purpose, talks are being held with the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy with the Medical University- Pleven Professor Toni Velkov, Ventsislav Mutafchiyski added. It also became clear that the Bulgarian hospitals received medicine enough for treatment of 16,000 patients infected with coronavirus.

Bulgaria and UAE join efforts in fight against Covid-19

As a token of good cooperation between Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates, 32 tons of vegetables, meat and dairy products, provided by Bulgarian companies were flown to Abu Dhabi by two airplanes. In exchange, the UAE is providing Bulgaria with 15 tons of medical supplies – masks, gloves, disinfectants and clothes, as well as food.

Government orders chain stores to sell Bulgarian products

To help Bulgarian producers the government has ordered the chain stores to sell Bulgarian produce coming from domestic producers. Milk and dairy products made of Bulgarian milk, fish and fish products, fresh meat and eggs, honey, seasonal fruit and vegetables from regional producers have to be labelled as such and displayed adequately. This measure affects self-service chains with stores in more than three administrative regions in the country

Loosening of emergency measures threatens state systems: Premier Borissov

If the measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 are loosened too quickly, the health system is in danger of collapse within two weeks, Premier Borissov warned at a meeting with the Chairperson of the Bulgarian Supreme Bar Council Ralitsa Negentsova. If the health system collapses, the other systems in Bulgaria will collapse as well, Premier Borissov said in response to the request of the Bulgarian solicitors who want the judicial system to resume its normal functioning. There are very few cases at the moment, mostly criminal proceedings. The activities of both notaries and bailiffs are restricted. Lawyers cannot give legal advices, Ralitsa Negentsova said in an interview for BNR.

Police register drop in criminal activity

A drop in criminal activity has been registered, one of the reasons probably being the checkpoints put up at the entry and exit points of major cities and neighbourhoods which render the movement of criminal elements more difficult. National Police Director Hristo Terziyski urged people to obey the rules. We do not want to fine anyone, Hristo Terziyski further said. General Directorate National Police has announced that there are currently around 25,000 people placed under quarantine in Bulgaria. 702 judicial investigations have been initiated for breaking quarantine, and more than 2780 fines have been imposed for walks in the park.

Bulgaria seizes large number of smuggled face masks

148,000 illegal face masks were seized at Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint. The masks were found in a cargo vehicle travelling from Turkey to Slovakia. Other undeclared items of world famous trade marks were also found in the truck during the additional inspection. Measures against the Bulgarian truck driver have been taken.

Compiled by Diana Tsankova and the news team 

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