site.btaBulgaria Tightens COVID-19 Restrictions for Two Months from Monday
SC 15:57:31 02-09-2021
RY1556.003
108 HEALTHCARE - COVID-19 - RESTRICTIONS
Bulgaria Tightens
COVID-19 Restrictions
for Two Months from Monday
Sofia, September 2 (BTA) - With new COVID-19 infections rising
steeply, Bulgaria will introduce more rigorous epidemic-control
measures for two months, from September 7 to October 30.
Caretaker Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov and his deputy
Alexander Zlatanov broke the news at a news briefing on Tuesday
morning.
The school year will start on September 15 with in-person
classes, but pupils will switch to online learning if the
coronavirus situation deteriorates. Later on, Education and
Science Minister Nikolay Denkov confirmed to journalists that
discontinuing in-person classes will be decided locally,
depending on the number of sick pupils and teachers at a
particular school and in a particular settlement. "The
Government will respect the principle of closing the schools
last and reopening them first," Denkov said.
Language centres will remain open, with up to 10-person groups
and all precautions observed. Dance and arts schools and centres
can work with up to 19 persons in a room. Children's centres
and group services for children will be suspended.
Food service establishments and gambling facilities will be open
from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., limited to 6 persons per table. The
staff must wear masks. Night clubs and discos will be closed.
Up to 30 persons indoors and up to 60 persons outdoors may
attend private parties like weddings and baptisms.
Congresses, seminars, examinations and competitions may take
place at 30 per cent seating capacity and with up to 30 persons
in a room. Music festivals, folk initiatives and other
crowd-drawing events are suspended.
Fitness gyms and hydrotherapy facilities will be limited to 30
per cent capacity.
Attendance of films, theatre performances and concerts indoors
will be limited to 50 per cent of the seating capacity.
Admissions to museums and galleries will be limited to 1 visitor
per 8 sq m, with a minimum distance of 1.5 metres observed.
Capacity restrictions will be waived for all establishments
where both the staff and the visitors are fully vaccinated, have
recovered from COVID-19, or have a 72-hours-old negative PCR
test.
Indoor sports competitions will be held without audience, and
professional competitions outdoors can be watched at 30 per cent
capacity, with spectators spaced out in every third seat.
Mask wearing will be mandatory at open-air retail and wholesale
markets for both sellers and shoppers, with one-way movement of
visitors and letting up to 1 person per 8 sq m in the area at a
time.
Replying to an MP's question, Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said,
addressing Parliament later in the day, that the
pandemic-control measures applied by the Health Ministry are
"sufficiently business-friendly". They affect mostly working and
gathering indoors, while those concerning work outdoors are
relatively liberal. Businesses will benefit from the usual 60/40
and 80/0 employment retention schemes - provided that the
National Assembly revises the 2021 budget, the PM said.
Restaurateurs Resent Restrictions
Food service providers are readying to organize blockades
countrywide in protest of the closure of night clubs and discos
and the order to be open until 10 p.m. with up to 6 patrons per
table. They are planning actions in Veliko Turnovo on Thursday,
in Plovdiv on Friday, and "a huge protest" in Sofia on September
7, said Bulgarian Association of Catering Establishments (BACE)
President Richard Alibegov.
The food service sector blames the Health Minister's "failure to
roll out the vaccines" and argues that their business is
becoming a "scapegoat of the inept way in which the country is
being run".
The Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, BACE and the
Association of Catering Establishments in Bulgaria on Thursday
issued a statement demanding the resignations of "everybody who
are to blame for the inadequate tackling of the crisis by the
State that has dealt yet another heavy blow to Bulgarian
business." LG
//
/РЯ/
RY1556.003
108 HEALTHCARE - COVID-19 - RESTRICTIONS
Bulgaria Tightens
COVID-19 Restrictions
for Two Months from Monday
Sofia, September 2 (BTA) - With new COVID-19 infections rising
steeply, Bulgaria will introduce more rigorous epidemic-control
measures for two months, from September 7 to October 30.
Caretaker Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov and his deputy
Alexander Zlatanov broke the news at a news briefing on Tuesday
morning.
The school year will start on September 15 with in-person
classes, but pupils will switch to online learning if the
coronavirus situation deteriorates. Later on, Education and
Science Minister Nikolay Denkov confirmed to journalists that
discontinuing in-person classes will be decided locally,
depending on the number of sick pupils and teachers at a
particular school and in a particular settlement. "The
Government will respect the principle of closing the schools
last and reopening them first," Denkov said.
Language centres will remain open, with up to 10-person groups
and all precautions observed. Dance and arts schools and centres
can work with up to 19 persons in a room. Children's centres
and group services for children will be suspended.
Food service establishments and gambling facilities will be open
from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., limited to 6 persons per table. The
staff must wear masks. Night clubs and discos will be closed.
Up to 30 persons indoors and up to 60 persons outdoors may
attend private parties like weddings and baptisms.
Congresses, seminars, examinations and competitions may take
place at 30 per cent seating capacity and with up to 30 persons
in a room. Music festivals, folk initiatives and other
crowd-drawing events are suspended.
Fitness gyms and hydrotherapy facilities will be limited to 30
per cent capacity.
Attendance of films, theatre performances and concerts indoors
will be limited to 50 per cent of the seating capacity.
Admissions to museums and galleries will be limited to 1 visitor
per 8 sq m, with a minimum distance of 1.5 metres observed.
Capacity restrictions will be waived for all establishments
where both the staff and the visitors are fully vaccinated, have
recovered from COVID-19, or have a 72-hours-old negative PCR
test.
Indoor sports competitions will be held without audience, and
professional competitions outdoors can be watched at 30 per cent
capacity, with spectators spaced out in every third seat.
Mask wearing will be mandatory at open-air retail and wholesale
markets for both sellers and shoppers, with one-way movement of
visitors and letting up to 1 person per 8 sq m in the area at a
time.
Replying to an MP's question, Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said,
addressing Parliament later in the day, that the
pandemic-control measures applied by the Health Ministry are
"sufficiently business-friendly". They affect mostly working and
gathering indoors, while those concerning work outdoors are
relatively liberal. Businesses will benefit from the usual 60/40
and 80/0 employment retention schemes - provided that the
National Assembly revises the 2021 budget, the PM said.
Restaurateurs Resent Restrictions
Food service providers are readying to organize blockades
countrywide in protest of the closure of night clubs and discos
and the order to be open until 10 p.m. with up to 6 patrons per
table. They are planning actions in Veliko Turnovo on Thursday,
in Plovdiv on Friday, and "a huge protest" in Sofia on September
7, said Bulgarian Association of Catering Establishments (BACE)
President Richard Alibegov.
The food service sector blames the Health Minister's "failure to
roll out the vaccines" and argues that their business is
becoming a "scapegoat of the inept way in which the country is
being run".
The Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, BACE and the
Association of Catering Establishments in Bulgaria on Thursday
issued a statement demanding the resignations of "everybody who
are to blame for the inadequate tackling of the crisis by the
State that has dealt yet another heavy blow to Bulgarian
business." LG
//
/РЯ/
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