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Against the background of the improved Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria, as of June 4 all EU citizens (including Bulgarian and Dutch) and citizens of the Schengen area residing in Bulgaria are exempted from the requirement to present a negative PCR test and go into 10-day quarantine when arriving in the Netherlands, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said. Test and quarantine requirements remain for arrivals in the Netherlands from high-risk Covid-19 countries. More information is available at https://www.mfa.bg/bg/covid19map/Europe/Netherlands Earlier, on June 1, Belgium abolished the requirement t...

The cost of the two naval patrol vessels being acquired by the Bulgarian Navy could rise between 400 million and a billion leva because the contract signed last year did not include ammunition for them, caretaker Defence Minister Georgi Panayatov told a news conference on June 3. As The Sofia Globe reported at the time, Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry signed on November 12 a contract worth 984 million leva (about 503 million euro) including value-added tax with German firm Fr. Lürssen Werft for the building and delivery of two naval patrol vessels. The ships are expected to be delivered in 202...

Bulgaria is among seven European Union countries to be ready to start issuing the EU Digital Covid Certificate, according to a statement on June 1 by the European Commission. The Commission said that on June 1, the EU Digital COVID Certificate reached another important milestone with the go-live of the technical system at EU level, which allows to verify certificates in a secure and privacy-friendly way. The EU certificate was proposed by the Commission to resume safe travelling this summer. It will be free of charge, secure and accessible to all, the Commission said. Available in digital for...

Marking World No Tobacco Day on May 31, Bulgaria’s Health Ministry said that amid the isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, many smokers had decided to give up smoking. “At the same time, overcoming tobacco dependence is not so easy, especially given the additional stress of the socio-economic difficulties of the pandemic.” The ministry highlighted the availability of counselling at all regional health inspectorates on giving up smoking, while pointing to research showing that Bulgaria has the highest percentage of smokers in the European Union. The European Commission’s State of...

Of 13 164 tests done in the past day, 293 – about 2.22 per cent – proved positive. To date, 417 819 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Bulgaria, a figure that includes those who have died, the active cases and those who have recovered from the virus. There are 21 026 active cases, a decrease of 1565 in the past day. The report said that 1838 people in Bulgaria had recovered from the virus in the past day, bringing the total to 379 156. There are 3295 patients with Covid-19 in hospital, a decrease of 101 in the past day, with 379 in intensive care, an increase of four. Seven medical ...