Page 24 - Sofia Globe News Today

Forty-five per cent of Bulgarians say that they do not intend being vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the results of a poll by Alpha Research, released on December 22. Just 15 per cent of the Bulgarians polled said that they wanted to be vaccinated as soon as possible, while 40 per cent said that they first wanted to wait and see if the vaccines had negative effects. The Alpha Research poll was done between December 11 and 18 among 1037 adult citizens, through direct interviews in their...

Of 4304 PCR tests done in the past 24 hours, 1277 proved positive – about 29.67 per cent. The number of active cases has decreased by 1787, to a total of 83 041. There are 6287 patients in hospital, 337 fewer than the figure in the December 21 report. A total of 523 are in intensive care, 13 fewer. Fifty-nine medical personnel tested positive in the past day, bringing the total to date to 8498. The number of people who have recovered from the virus has passed the 100 000-mark, with an increas...

Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved 14.3 million leva in funding for upgrading the country’s emergency calls system after a review by the Health Ministry identified the existing IT infrastructure of the ambulance service as a weak point. Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said after the government’s December 22 sitting that the new system would improve the service of the 112 single European emergency number in Bulgaria. The upgraded IT infrastructure would improve security and maximum workload, as wel...

The ban on entering Bulgaria from the UK does not apply to Bulgarian citizens, permanent and long-term residents and medical specialists, among other categories of people. This is according to an order published by Bulgaria’s Health Minister Kostadin Angelov, posted on the ministry website on the night of December 21. On the night of December 20, as a response to reports of a new strain of Covid-19 in the UK, Angelov issued an order banning the entry into Bulgaria of people arriving from the ...

About 12.9 per cent of non-financial businesses in Bulgaria expected in November that they would have to cut staff, in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, according to a poll by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the results of which were released on December 22. Among the 3770 businesses polled, about 84.5 per cent said that they expected that their staff numbers would remain unchanged while two per cent expected to increase staff, the NSI said. The poll is the latest of a special serie...

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on December 21 that it had recommended granting a conditional marketing authorisation for the vaccine Comirnaty, developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, to prevent Covid-19 in people from 16 years of age. “EMA’s scientific opinion paves the way for the first marketing authorisation of a Covid-19 vaccine in the EU by the European Commission, with all the safeguards, controls and obligations this entails,” the agency said in a statement. EMA’s human...

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Rousse has started pre-trial proceedings after a person was arrested at the Bulgarian-Romanian border checkpoint at Danube Bridge in the city after presenting a false PCR test certificate, the Prosecutor’s Office said on December 21. The arrest, which took place on December 18, was followed by a search of a house in Rousse, during which computer equipment was seized and witnesses questioned, the statement said. According to a report by Bulgarian National ...

Dimo Stoyanov, vocalist and musician with popular Bulgarian alternative/pop-rock band P.I.F, has died at the age of 45 after weeks of treatment in hospital for Covid-19, Bulgarian National Radio and several other Bulgarian media reported on December 21. On December 9, the group had posted an appeal on its Facebook page for blood plasma to treat Stoyanov because his condition had deteriorated. A donor was found and Stoyanov’s condition was reported to have improved, but again deteriorated. Awa...

The European Commission said on December 21 that it has approved 51 million leva, or about 26 million euro, in state aid for Bulgaria’s tour operators and travel agents. The funding would be issued as grants, to be used to refund customers whose travel packages have been cancelled between March 1 and December 31 due to the coronavirus outbreak, and to cover costs of their main activities over the same period. The measure aims to address any liquidity shortages caused by the coronavirus outbre...

A total of 58 people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for Covid-19 died in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death toll linked to the disease to 6609, the national information system daily report on December 21 said. Of 790 PCR tests done in the past 24 hours, 166 proved positive – about 21.01 per cent. The number of active cases has decreased by 1624, to a total of 84 828. There are 6624 patients in hospital, 16 fewer than the figure in the December 20 report. Five hundred and t...