Amendments to Health Act to be discussed in plenary

The Bulgarian parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs adopted, at first reading, the amendments to the Health Act connected with the measures after the end of the state of emergency.

The amendments were supported by 14 votes, 7 Bulgarian Socialist Party MPs abstained. The amendments will empower the minister of health to determine the anti-epidemic measures after the state of emergency is lifted on 13 May. The concrete proposals will be made public on 11 May.

Some of the changes are connected with tourism. Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova announced that on 13 May the European Commission is to make recommendations regarding the industry, concerning the opening of borders and the reimbursement of money from bookings.

The texts are to be discussed in plenary.

Distribution of chloroquine starts in Bulgaria

The National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases has announced that company "Bul Bio" was ready to distribute the medicine chloroquine and this starts today across the country.

The chief of the crisis staff for the fight against coronavirus, General Mutafchiyski, described the news as an indisputable success and recalled that in the first days of the epidemic, the Infectious Diseases Society in Bulgaria developed precise instructions for the use of the drug.

Number of Covid-19 cases in Bulgaria rises to 1,829

18 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Bulgaria today - 4 in Yambol, 1 in Plovdiv, 12 in Sofia and 1 in Varna. This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the infection to 1,829. 893 of them are men and 936 wre women. This is shown by data from the National Operational Headquarters announced at 5 pm on May 7.

A total of 355 people with confirmed Covid-19 are now in hospitals, 43 of them in intensive care units. 192 are the medical staff who have tested positive for coronavirus infection.

The Covid-19 death toll in Bulgaria remains 84 people. 384 people have been cured.

Bulgarian football championship to be resumed on 5 June

The Bulgarian Football Union’s expert working group has taken a decision to resume the first league championship on 5 June, and the training process - as of mid-May.

If the 2019/2020 season is completed, the finals of the Bulgarian Supercup are to take place on 22 July, and the start of season 2020/2021 is to be given on 25 July.

Free parking downtown Sofia has been terminated

At 08.30 on May 7 in Sofia operation of the paid parking zones is restored. Simultaneously with the reactivation of the paid zones, a gradual normalization of the schedules of the public transport begins. This will first happen with the trams and trolleybuses that pass through the city center and on Monday with the metropolitan and the rest of the public transport, it was reported.

Flights from Great Britain, Netherlands and Germany to Bulgaria's Varna resumed

The flights of a large low-cost airline to Bulgaria's Varna Airport from Eindhoven (Netherlands), Dortmund (Germany) and London (Great Britain) have been resumed. Planes from the three cities are expected to land this evening and during the night at Varna airport.

Upon arrival of the planes at the airport, inspectors from the Regional Health Inspectorate will be present, who will remotely measure the temperature of the arriving passengers. All arriving passengers are required to remain quarantined for 14 days as required.

Bulgarians blocked in France flown home

All of the 73 Bulgarian nationals who flew to France as seasonal workers but were not allowed out of Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and had to spend more than 24 hours there, have been put on board an airplane to Sofia.

The Bulgarian embassy in Paris rendered them every assistance. This was announced by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry which goes on to explain that as of 17 March no foreign citizens are allowed into France, and as of 8 April – this ban includes seasonal workers as well.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged seasonal workers many times not to travel to high-risk destinations. The seasonal workers have filed a complaint in court for being denied entry into France. A ruling of the Paris court is pending.

47% of hotels in Bulgaria plan to reduce prices for summer season

There is a certain risk for the upcoming tourist season, but overall tourism in Bulgaria is stable, Rumen Draganov from the Institute for Analysis and Assessments in Tourism said in an interview with bTV channel. There are currently 5,860 hotels operating in the country. There is an order from the Minister of Tourism to restrict organized travel, but not individual travel, the expert said.

According to data provided by Draganov, 47% of hotels in Bulgaria plan to reduce prices for the summer season due to competition. The big goal of the tourism sector right now is to ensure adequate anti-epidemic measures to save themselves from possible lawsuits for allowing someone to become infected with Covid-19 in their hotels.

President Radev: Bulgaria could draw on the experience of Slovenia to revive its tourism

The measures in Bulgaria and Slovenia for overcoming the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus were discussed, in a telephone conversation, by the presidents of the two countries, Rumen Radev and Borut Pahor.

The passing of the initial psychological shock from the spread of the coronavirus in Europe brings to the agenda the question of rendering the economy real support and curbing the growing unemployment, Presidents Radev and Pahor pointed out.

President Borut Pahor stated that to support tourism, Slovenia was preparing bilateral agreements for lifting the quarantine for tourists coming from neighbouring countries in which the virus is declining. "Bulgaria could draw on this experience to revive its own tourism which forms a significant share of Bulgaria’s GDP," the Bulgarian head of state said.

Most Bulgarians are skeptical about coronavirus crisis outcome

A survey by Trend has shown that 57% of Bulgarians have pessimistic expectations when it comes to economic development over the next year. The largest share (31%) say it will take more than a year to return to a normal lifestyle, and 9% say people will never return to it. 68% say they would be worried to visit places where many people gathered.

Unemployment in 11 districts of Bulgaria is over 10%

The Employment Agency has announced that in March when the state of emergency was declared, unemployment in 11 provinces of Bulgaria exceeded 10 percent, in comparison to an average level of 6.7 percent for the country.

The highest level is in Vidin - 14.9 percent, and the lowest in Sofia-city - 2.3 percent. Averagely,seven unemployed people compete for one job vacancy in this country. The number of registered unemployed with higher education reaches 17.1 percent. Nearly 57.9 percent of the unemployed people registered in March were women and more than 40 percent were people over the age of 50.

Bulgarian national dies of Covid-19 in Romania

The strategic communication group of the Romanian government announced four new deaths of patients with Covid-19 this morning, among them one Bulgarian citizen.

The man was crossing Romania in transit as a truck driver. He was admitted to an emergency hospital in Arad County in critical condition with bronchopneumonia.

Compiled by Diana Tsankova and Radio Bulgaria's News Team

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