Work at a toy factory
in the town of Dospat in southern Bulgaria has been temporarily
suspended after 48 employees tested positive for Covid-19, the
Smolyan municipality said on June 8.
In Dospat, a town with
a population of about 2400, there are about 220 employees at the toy
factory.
The 48 samples that
tested positive were out of 173 as a mass test of workers began. The
tests were conducted after an employee of the factory tested positive
and was admitted to hospital in Gotse Delchev last week.
The toy factory employs
many residents of neighbouring villages, including Sarnitsa, where 30
cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed.
Smolyan regional
governor Nedlyako Slavov said that trips to and from Dospat are not
recommended.
Bulgarian National
Radio reported Smolyan regional health inspectorate head Dr.
Mimi Kubateva as saying: “We still don’t know exactly where,
from which settlements the people who have tested positive are from.
“Once
we receive this information, we will begin epidemiological studies of
everyone regarding their contacts, who will be checked and placed
under home quarantine,” Kubateva said.
“The
workers themselves, who are positive, will be in home isolation for
28 days under the supervision of their GPs,” she said.
Dospat
mayor Emil Radev issued an order introducing a number of restrictions
in the municipality, in effect from June 8 to 15.
All
kindergartens, community centres, sports grounds, playgrounds, sports
halls and campsites are closed.
It is mandatory to wear
protective masks in open and closed public places.
In all
public places, including shops, pharmacies, banks and the municipal
administration, people must remain at least 1.5m apart.
No
more than two people may sit at one table in restaurants and bars.
Weddings,
proms and prayer services are banned, as is any gathering of more
than two people in one place. Cultural events and seminars are
banned, and all markets in the municipality are closed.
Radev
told business owners to strictly implement a system of disinfection.
He told Bulgarian National Television that although the factory maintained good discipline and hygiene, the infection most likely came from Sarnitsa.
Radev
alleged that many of the women who came from Sarnitsa to work at the
factory took analgin to suppress their temperatures so that
thermometers would not detect that they were ill.
The
heads of the health inspectorates in the three neighbouring districts
of Smolyan, Blagoevgrad and Pazardzhik are expected to meet Chief
State Health Inspector Angel Kunchev on June 9 to discuss
anti-epidemic measures.
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