site.bta593 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in Bulgaria

April 8 (BTA) - There are 593 confirmed COVID-19 cases in
 Bulgaria, with 12 new cases registered on Wednesday, show the
latest data of the national coronavirus task force, as reported
by the Health Ministry' press office on Wednesday afternoon.
   
A total of 233 infected are in hospital, of whom 27 are in
intensive care. The coronavirus death toll in Bulgaria is 24.
   
As at April 7, 332 of the confirmed COVID-19 cases were male and
 261, female. The average age of the patients is 48 years.

It transpired at the morning briefing of the national
coronavirus task force that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has
ordered antibody testing in the southwestern town of Bansko,
which was in total lockdown for two weeks in March. The tests
are meant to establish whether the local people in that mountain
 resort have been in contact with the virus, have had mild
symptoms or produced antibodies without any symptoms.

Borissov told the briefing that the European Commission is  yet
to deliver one million coronavirus test kits for which  Bulgaria
 has paid. "They are simply not available on the  market," he
said. This country has also paid for 5,000 test kits from
Belgium, where there is a law under which domestic demand must
be met first.

Bulgarian manufacturers make goods of a much better quality than
 powerful countries, said Borissov. Frontline hospitals now have
 a surplus of personal protective equipment. The Prime Minister
has ordered some 100 PPE kits sent to North Macedonia. NV,
RY/DD, DS