The government expects the peak of the pandemic in December

In December, the government hopes to exert the greatest pressure on the coronavirus pandemic and is trying to take the full range of measures, health and socio-economic, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said on Sunday. Health Minister Kostadin Angelov called on people to be responsible and not take antibiotics indiscriminately, because this limits the possibility of their treatment in case of infection and creates multi-resistant strains with long-term consequences.

“Perhaps the worst pressure from the pandemic is expected to be in December. This is a prognosis that is not based on a recurring pattern. So far we have not found this disease, science still knows little about it.” But at some point, even without a vaccine, the mere fact that a significant percentage of the population has encountered the disease will limit the spread. But this must go with all measures, “Tomislav Donchev told Nova TV on Sunday.

“The state must be in place, the state control bodies must monitor compliance with the measures. Society must also make efforts,” he said.

Although the media constantly reports on overloaded hospital systems, and Minister Angelov was in Shumen hospital, where it is overcrowded and patients are returning, Donchev believes there are enough beds in the country to receive treatment.

Need for better coordination

According to him, there is a need to improve the coordination and logistics system, that is, for the patient to be sent to where there is a free bed.

Angelov himself said that additional beds in Shumen would be opened in psychiatric and pulmonary hospitals to cope with the shortage of treatment places in the city.

The Health Minister expressed concern that “a large number of people still do not believe such contagion exists, they continue to go to massive concentrations, although in the Shumen region they are prohibited by order.” There are also private meetings that cannot yet be controlled and as a result the number of patients is increasing, he told reporters.

Do not self-medicate

He criticized the massive use of antibiotics unnecessarily and pointed out that “at some point, when this patient arrives at the hospital, there is no other antibiotic to treat, since the capacity is already exhausted due to the use of drugs in pre-hospital care, which have not been prescribed by a doctor and self-medication has been started. “

“We will create multi-resistant strains that in no way, over time, can we control and will have serious adverse consequences for people’s lives over time,” Angelov predicted.

Donchev said that regional measures are being taken based on the infection rate, the number of infected. “We have to fight between two evils – on the one hand there is the health risk that no one can ignore, on the other hand we run the risk that a generation will spend a year with serious deficits in their education. We must not stumble over either extreme. A flexible approach is better, “he said of online learning.

Following news on Friday that the government had signed a contract with Johnson & Johnson for a Covid-19 vaccine, the deputy prime minister said there would be no separate talks about the vaccine.

“Negotiations are taking place at the EU level. We have a contract that would allow us access to 3 vaccines. The choice of which vaccines is not made by politicians, because I am not a doctor. We do not yet have an approved vaccine. Bulgaria the Bulgarian must guarantee citizens a safe vaccine that does not represent a risk to their health – free of charge. And it will be optional, “he added.

On Friday, the prime minister said that Bulgaria was negotiating with the EU on the seven vaccines.

Anti-crisis measures are a budget priority

Donchev also commented that the main focus of the draft budget for 2021 is anti-crisis measures: additional costs for the healthcare system, additional social costs, additional costs to support businesses. “The art here was how to combine traditional priorities with new challenges,” he said.

“There are measures that are extraordinary: 1,000 additional BGN for each doctor and nurse who are in the front line. This measure will last as long as necessary. At least for the moment it is covered 100% with funds from the European Social Fund. This is “As much flexibility as possible has been demonstrated, all possible sources of funding have been used so that all systems, including health, can be financed as much as necessary,” he said.