“According to the analysis commissioned by the Ministry regarding the causes of the high mortality rate in Bulgaria during the pandemic, there is no unique factor that has placed it among the countries with the highest death rate in Europe. The reasons are comprehensive,” said Assoc. Prof. Hristo Hinkov, Director of the National Centre for Public Health and Analysis at a briefing of the health authorities. “We entered this pandemic with a population that is very sick. Second, we entered the pandemic with a system of healthcare that is unreformed. And the third is the management of the pandemic.”

Another factor is that life expectancy in the country is shorter by 6 years compared to the other European countries, and that Bulgarians suffer from different chronic diseases.
166, 050 people have died in Bulgaria in the period from 1 March 2020 until 1 May 2021. 78% of all people who died are in the high-risk 60 to 89 age bracket. The Covid mortality rate is 123 per 100,000, and in this index Bulgaria is in third position in Europe. The coronavirus mortality increases the overall death rate because, concomitantly, it multiplies the people who have died of chronic diseases. Coronavirus patients account for 28% of all hospitalizations during this period. That too increases the mortality from other diseases because it has impeded treatment and prevention. In Assoc. Prof. Hristo Hinkov’s words no comprehensive concept has been developed for tackling the pandemic. The crisis management has been more political than medical. The anti-epidemic measures in 125 different orders have been halfway measures, populist and contradictory. This has bred mistrust in the ability of the authorities to cope with the pandemic, and this is now being reflected in the low interest in vaccination.