Coronavirus in Bulgaria: Total confirmed cases is 2372

The new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours are 41. Eleven of them were hospitalised.

The total number of cases in the country is 2372, the national task force said at the daily morning briefing on May 22.

The new 41 cases were out of 1450 samples tested for coronavirus.

The increase in the number of tests does not lead to increase in the number of newly registered cases, the head of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Prof. Kantardzhiev said. I want to highlight this because for weeks I have heard that not many cases were confirmed in the country because not many tests were conducted, he added.

Forty two people have recovered over the past 24 hours, which is again higher than the number of the newly infected.

The active cases are 1478.

The latest cases include 8 in Sofia. Pazardzhik (South Bulgaria) reported 17 new cases. This is a cluster in the auto parts factory in the city, Prof. Kantardhziev said and added that measures were taken very quickly, before the new cases were identified, some of the workers are on leave, those who were at work will be sent at home, so that the premises can be disinfected.

Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil and Smolyan each reported 1 new case.

There is a newly infected medical professional: a nurse from Knezha. The highest risk of getting infected for the medical staff is when they are taking off the individual protective clothing, the professor said.

The total number of recovered is 769.

The death toll is increasing. Five more patients diagnosed with Covid-19 died in the past 24 hours. A 78 year old man died in Pirogov emergency hospital in Sofia, he also had diabetes. A man and a woman died in Pazardzhik. A 51 year old woman, who also had cancer, died in Stara Zagora. An 88 year old man, who also had had stroke, died in Yambol.

The professor reminded that it is very important to take measures early during an epidemic, because even if the measures are stricter after that, their effect is much lower.

Prof. Dr. Todor Kantardzhiev, Director of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases: Because we notice that in our society there is a lot of talk that death toll in the country is low and the number of cases is low not because measures were taken on time, but because we don't have many elderly people. To these people I would say the following: To a large extent, the severity of this infection depends on two reasons, which I have been emphasizing for some time. The first reason depends on the amount of viruses the person has been infected with. If you use protective equipment, distance, and get infected, you go through the disease more easily because small amount of the virus affect your body. And the second very important thing about the course of the infection and the outcome, is the number of receptors in the parts of the body, in which this virus can go. It turns out that in children these receptors are much less than in adults in the respiratory system. Therefore, the children had almost no clinical manifestation of the disease, he added.

Most affected in the country are Sofia city and Sofia district, where the total coronavirus cases are 995. 126 of them are in hospitals, 19 in intensive care.