Bulgarians Who Were in Contact with Covid, May Be Six Times above Official Figures Says Survey

Nearly 43% of the population of Bulgaria might have been exposed to the coronavirus. This shows a study conducted by one of the largest chains of laboratories in the country. 

Laboratory samples were processed for N-antibodies, 2,665 , randomly selected in the period May 25 - June 11, 2021, from 38 towns in the country. 

The survey is not national and representative, as there are areas where not enough samples have been studied. However, it shows that the number of people with coronavirus antibodies  is probably about 6 times higher than officially registered.

This was announced at a briefing at the Ministry of Health today by Dr. Stoycho Katsarov, caretaker Health Minister.

The Minister also announced that procedure has been launched to gather information on the number of people who have been exposed to the coronavirus. 

He gave a presentation to one of the national chain of laboratories, which has conducted its own study to determine as accurately as possible how many people have encountered the coronavirus so far.

"This served to launch a procedure that would allow us to gather absolutely all the information available on the health network regarding the number of people who have encountered the virus," the caretaker minister said at the beginning of the briefing.

On Friday, Minister Katsarov had a video conference with all software companies that develop medical software. They have reached such an agreement with them:

"We will build a technical place where we can gather information about all vaccinated people, everyone who has been hospitalized, information about everyone who has been tested, and all available information about antibody testing from March 1 last year to date", he explained.

This information will be sorted by PIN, by districts and by municipalities. In practice, collecting this data will result in the smallest number of people who have encountered the virus so far.

The minister explained why such an approach was chosen rather than through antibody tests among the population.

The new method will be a one-step collection process, but this database will continue to be filled from now on. All information is expected to be obtained within a month. The price for this is in the range of BGN 10,000 - 15,000.

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