Bulgaria sees rapid rise in coronavirus infections – 83 in a day - UPDATED

Bulgaria lifted nearly all measures against the spread of COVID-19 over the past several weeks. Both experts and numbers suggested the country had reached the right tail of the bell curve. But just after the coronavirus response team held their last regular briefing, the cases began to rise.

Today the number of confirmed cases reached 83, which is the second highest number of confirmed cases over a 24-hour period since the beginning of the outbreak. More than half of those are from an apparent cluster in toy factory in Dospat. The number of tests done for the period is 1406.

152 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized, 15 of those are in ICUs. Infected patients, needing intensive care have also risen over the past days. Last week they were less than ten.

Deaths with a coronavirus infection were at zero over the past several days. In the last 24 hours, four people with the infection have died.

The number of confirmed active cases of a coronavirus infection at the time is 1059. The total number of cases overall since the beginning of the outbreak is 2810. 1587 have recovered. 167 is the number of people with the infection, who have died.

UPDATE (June 9, 1:15 PM): Around noon Bulgaria’s Chief Health Inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev announced the state of epidemic emergency will be extended following the increase of cases. The Cabinet will decide by how long on Wednesday after the regular Council of Ministers’ meeting: "A month or less," Dr. Kunchev told reporters.

This article was originally published June 9, 11:12 AM