In the course of a year an international team of researchers studied how the restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic have affected the mental state of the population in 11 countries - the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, India, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The team members included lecturers from New Bulgarian University in Sofia.

The study, financed by EOSCsecretariat.eu, found that almost half of the respondents (48.6%) suffer from some kind of mental disorder, with 17.6% it is the result of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed, 9.3% of the respondents say they have developed depression, and 3% - panic disorder.

“Bulgarians comply with 79% of the anti-epidemic restrictions imposed,” Dr. Irina Georgieva from New Bulgarian University said in an interview for Horizont channel. “Out of 44 restrictions applied, Bulgaria introduced 37 which is the highest number, whereas Sweden introduced 13.The tendency is that the more restrictive the measures the less they are complied with. The other conclusion from the study is that the lower the level of trust in the government, the fewer people observe any measures.”