Outgoing cabinet: There are fiscal reserves of 600 million Leva for Covid expenses until the end of the year

There is a 600 million Leva buffer to cover the necessary costs of the Covid crisis until the end of the year - this was announced at a working meeting of the outgoing government today.
“The 1.15 billion leva allocated during the pandemic in healthcare guarantees the predictability of all expenses, while the people working in the healthcare system can rest assured that financing will be provided for any need that arises,” said outgoing Health Minister Prof. Kostadin Angelov. He added that the vaccination rollout was going ahead at a good pace, and that Pernik, Pleven, Sofia were the most active regions with more than 2,500 vaccinations per 100,000 people.

5.5 million doses of vaccine are expected to arrive in Bulgaria during the second quarter.

Boyko Borissov: 1 million Bulgarians have been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19

“We have now passed 1 million vaccinated people in Bulgaria, or people who have recovered from Covid-19,” said outgoing PM Boyko Borissov during a working meeting of the cabinet at his home in Bankya.
The government has so far provided 1.15 billion Leva for containing the epidemic, he stated. In his words “we have applied the anti-epidemic measures shrewdly and that is why the restrictions imposed were lifted earlier than in other countries.”
“We took timely measures, prepared the entire system all over the country so that the third wave of the coronavirus was hardly felt in this country,” said on his part Health Minister Prof. Kostadin Angelov.

BIA President: Government must submit recovery plan within submission deadline

“The recovery and resilience plan must be submitted to the European Commission because its contents can be altered afterwards but the deadline can’t,” Radosvet Radev, President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) said in an interview with bTV.  
He commented that there is a sense of mild optimism among businesses because of the mass vaccination which will lead to better working conditions. However, the economy is expected to recover no earlier than the end of 2022. According to a BIA survey, 74% of the respondents, representing businesses in the country, say that new measures are needed to assist them. As to the banking moratorium, 54% say that they will find it difficult to service their debts, 79% say they see no improvement in the economic indexes.
“At the moment an entrepreneur’s best defence is to do nothing and postpone investments,” Radosvet Radev said.

Bulgaria reports almost 800 daily Covid-19 cases

798 is the number of newly registered coronavirus infections in Bulgaria in the past 24 hours out of 7,493 tests performed, or a positivity rate of a little over 10%, Single Coronavirus Information Portal data show.
The highest number of new infections has been confirmed in Sofia – 162, in Burgas - 97, in Plovdiv - 89 and in Varna - 81.
8,087 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospital, 738 of them in intensive care. 33 have died in the past 24 hours bringing the coronavirus death toll to 15, 859. The number of recoveries is 509. The number of active cases – 56,855.
4,230 doses of vaccine have been administered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of vaccinations to 721,170.

5^th, 9^th and 12^th grade pupils resume in-person school attendance as of Monday

The pupils from the 5^th, 9^th and 12^th grade are going back to school as of tomorrow, as planned.
If the spread of the coronavirus continues its positive trend, the 6^th and the 11^th grade pupils could resume in-person school attendance as early as 10 May, Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev announced.

Allowing audiences at indoor sports events in Bulgaria mulled

If Covid-19 incidence continues its downward trend next week audiences will be allowed at indoor sports competitions, outgoing Minister of Sport Krasen Kralev announced.
Since yesterday audiences have been allowed to attend outdoor sports events at 30% of seat occupancy, and provided face masks are worn and a distance of 1.5 metres observed. No violations of the anti-epidemic measures were registered at yesterday’s sporting events.

Compiled by Diana Tsankova

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