Green corridors remain active after May 9

More than 270,000 doses of vaccine will arrive on May 10, so the green vaccination corridors (walk-in vaccination centres) will continue to work, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said. During a working meeting with the Minister of Health, the Prime Minister pointed out that all vaccines delivered in Bulgaria should be distributed as soon as possible and those wishing to be vaccinated should be able to do so.
"The good news is that 274,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrive every Monday of this month and on May 31, a delivery of 410,000 vaccines is expected. 36,000 Moderna vaccines arrive every week," Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov said.

Bulgaria records a 44% weekly drop in new infections

Bulgaria has registered a total of 545 new daily Covid-19 infections out of 5,733 tests performed, according to the Single Information Portal. 9.5% of the samples returned positive.
The highest number of infections is recorded in Sofia - 92, followed by the districts of Burgas with 86, Varna with 50 and Plovdiv with 47.
The number of active cases is currently 46,083. The number of hospitalized patients is continuing to decrease and there are now 6,138 patients in hospitals. 587 patients are being treated in intensive care units.
In the last 24 hours, 27 people have died. On a weekly basis, the decline in mortality is 25%. The daily recoveries stand at 594.
On May 9, a total of 7130 vaccine jabs were administered. There are now 884,254 people with at least one vaccine shot. 254,505 people, or 3.6% of the country's population, are immunized with two doses.

Bulgaria will not import Sputnik V, parliament decides

The MPs rejected the draft decision for the delivery of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V. The proposal was made by BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) for Bulgaria after having collected the necessary number of votes in the previous National Assembly. The outgoing government has repeatedly stated that the country would order the Russian vaccine provided it is approved for use by the EU first. 

Covid-19 is interfering with universal immunization schedule

In the battle against Covid-19 Europe practically forgot that there are other epidemics as well, and that there are vaccines against them. This is the conclusion reached during the European Immunization Week (26 April – 2 May). Data show that in some countries of the EU, or neighbouring on the EU there are unprecedented epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases taking place. Europe entered the Covid pandemic after barely having tackled the measles epidemic even though the community is still unable to meet the 95% vaccination coverage requirement. Full coverage for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis is also lacking among children in the EU.  
According to Bulgaria’s Chief State Health Inspector Associate Professor Angel Kunchev, far from interfering with the mandatory immunization schedule in this country, the Covid pandemic has actually checked the spread of other infectious diseases.

Despite the pandemic, tax authorities in Bulgaria report record-high revenues

Revenues to Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency as of April 28, 2021 are close to 4.4 billion euros, which is over 450 million euro more than during the same period of 2020, the agency announced. The record-high revenues from taxes and social security contributions are taking place in conditions of a continuing pandemic situation and a postponed payment of corporate tax for June 2021, the agency explained.
Revenues from personal income tax are over 650 million euro, from corporate taxes - 250 million euros and from VAT - 1.8 billion euros. The highest growth of revenues is from personal income taxes - by over 12%, followed by value added tax - over 10%.

Some Covid hospital wards are going back to their routine work

The example is from the hospital in Burgas, and this was made possible because of the drop in the number of coronavirus patients admitted to the hospital and freeing of many of the hospital beds in the transformed wards. According to the hospital management, 94 people have sought medical help in the five days since the beginning of May, half have been hospitalized. Thus, the nephrology, rheumatology and dermatology wards will gradually revert to their original function,

Compiled by Gergana Mancheva and Radio Bulgaria’s “News” team

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