site.btaAnti-Coronavirus Centre Established in Sofia

Sofia, February 24 (BTA) - The Security Council with Bulgaria's
Council of Ministers decided to set up a centre to fight the
coronavirus outbreak and prevent the infection from spreading
into Bulgaria, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists on
 Monday. The centre will be chaired by Maj. Gen. Ventsislav
Moutafchiiski, head of the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in
Sofia.

Two thousand coronavirus test kits are available in Bulgaria and
 another 1,000 are expected, the Prime Minister said. He noted
that it is unnecessary to test healthy people, because such
testing is inefficient, and besides, the kits are hard to come
by. Testing of sick people is now free of charge.

Until recently, anyone, sick or not, could be tested for a price
 of 200 leva, Moutafchiiski recalled.

Borissov said a training event should be held on Tuesday and a
strategy should be devised for countering the coronavirus in
case it enters Bulgaria. According to Moutafchiiski, the
training event has already been planned with teams at Sofia
Airport and the MMA.

Special outfits for border officers and physicians, mobile
thermal cameras and thermometers have been supplied to Bulgarian
 airports and border checkpoints to examine incoming passengers,
 Borissov said.

He noted that it is important for the anti-coronavirus centre to
 work transparently and to provide complete information about
any people diagnosed with the virus, their number and
whereabouts. "We are prepared to quarantine entire settlements
if the infection spreads," the Prime Minister said.

Moutafchiiski added that the mortality rate associated with this
 new virus is low. "It is not some disease from space that will
destroy us," he commented. Still, it is important for everyone
to observe the standard rules for personal hygiene and to impose
 14-day quarantine on anyone who has travelled to a high-risk
place, he said. NV/VE