More young people are contracting Covid-19, Chief State Health Inspector says

“Half of the new patients treated in hospital are under 65. There are now more and more patients with a severe clinical picture who do not have underlying diseases. The number of tests which return positive continues at around 5%,” commented Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev for bTv and expressed concern that we are nearing the critical threshold of hospitalizations.

Minister of Health: There is rise in Covid cases, but infection control has been successful

"In Bulgaria we are seeing an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. In Europe, we are among the leading countries in terms of the number of patients per 100,000 people of the population. This is a result of underestimating anti-epidemic measures. It is as if we underestimate the danger"- the Minister of Health Prof. Kostadin Angelov has told the BNR. According to him, the control over the infection is successful, as there is a sufficient number of hospital beds and sufficient amount of personal protective equipment. "We are gradually preparing our system in case there is more pressure," the minister said, adding that a concrete plan would be presented to the Council of Ministers next week. Equipment for the municipal hospitals are to be purchased with funds from a European project.

Bulgarian with coronavirus tried to avoid quarantine in Cyprus

A Bulgarian with a positive coronavirus test caused work to police and health authorities in Cyprus after fleeing mandatory quarantine and hiding. Citizens were alarmed about the dangerous incident and called to help find the patient. He arrived in the city of Paphos on Monday, July 27, and tested positive for coronavirus at the airport. He had to stay under a 14-day quarantine in the home of a Bulgarian friend, but he went into hiding. After several hours of police work, the Bulgarian was found, the press center of the police in Cyprus told BNR.

New cases of Covid-19 in Bulgaria are growing again

In the past 24 hours, the new cases of coronavirus in our country were 250, or 4.71% of 5,303 PCR tests. This is shown by the official data of the Unified Information Portal. There are 699 patients in hospital, 40 of them in intensive care units. 181 people recovered in the past day and 8 passed away. The mortality rate among patients with established coronavirus infection in Bulgaria is 3.27%.

Drop in number of Bulgarian students at universities abroad estimated at 40%

The number of Bulgarian students studying at universities abroad is likely to drop by 40% because of Covid-19, Monitor newspaper writes, citing forecasts by education consultancies. Ministry of Education figures show that 2,669 secondary education diplomas were legalized by 27 July, compared to 4,683 in 2019. At the same time the number of young people applying to universities in Bulgaria has been going up. 10,664 young people have applied to Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski alone, around 3,500 more than last year.

Independent artists to be supported by 6 million euro

Six of the 7.5 million euro approved by the government as additional funding to support Bulgarian culture due to the pandemic will go to finance independent projects by freelance artists in all spheres of art. This was announced by Minister of Culture Boil Banov. The funding is expected to provide 2,000 euro to 3,000 artistic projects. The requirement is that the projects must be of works by Bulgarian authors. Another 350,000 euro will go to support circus and variety show art which were also seriously affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Expert: Increasing health care money is pre-election measure

The rise of financing is a pre-election rather than an anti-crisis measure. Such an opinion was expressed in an interview with BNR by health-care economist Arkadi Sharkov, speaking about the additional funds allocated for health care - over 125 million euros. He also pointed out that tensions were rising between medical professionals when it comes to defining the front line of the fight against Covid-19.

Compiled by Darina Grigorova and Radio Bulgaria's News Team

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