Sofia

American Eric Holsey, who has been based in Sofia for several years makes a podcast about Bulgarian history. In addition to the podcast, he is working on another project - a book in English about Bulgarian history.

Bulgaria celebrates on March 3rd its National Holiday, marking the 143rd anniversary of its liberation from five centuries of Ottoman rule.

Liberation Day will be marked with a number of events throughout the country. The culmination is the ceremonial fireworks display on the National Assembly Square in Sofia.

Municipal hospitals in Sofia set up additional 80 beds for the treatment of Covid-19, patients, Sofia municipality reported.

By the order of the health minister the number of beds for Covid patients in Sofia hospitals is increased.

Notwithstanding changing times and crises, domestic violence statistics remains worrying. Perhaps unsurprisingly, over the past year, this social phenomenon has been talked about as an "epidemic in the pandemic."

Again, lines are meandering outside vaccination sites in Sofia, which today have vaccines available. In the capital, "green corridors" work in the hospital "St. Ivan Rilski" and "Alexandrovska" hospitals, reported bTV.

Some people lined up as early as 8 a.m.

Older people from the queue were vaccinated with priority. Lack of organization, however, has created turmoil.

There are more cars in Sofia than the average for major EU cities, according to an analysis by the municipal enterprise for strategic planning SofiaPlan. The trend shows that road traffic in the capital continues to grow, while public transport is losing passengers, BNR reported.

In the past 24 hours, 2,588 new cases of coronavirus infection have been documented in the country.

16,179 tests were made - 7,735 PCR and 8,444 antigen, of them 16% are positive.

As of March 2, there were 32,688 active cases in Bulgaria, according to data from the Single Information Portal.

Romanian pickpockets have infested Bulgaria recently. For the first time the police had spotted them at the start of the pandemic. Then they were just on a "guest tour." Late last year, however, they came for a longer time, even renting a flat in Sofia, Nova TV reported.

In the past 24 hours, 332 new cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in the country.

2,531 tests were made - 1,595 PCR and 936 antigen. Although the number of tests is small their positivity rate remains high - 13%.

As of March 1, there were 31,302 active cases in Bulgaria, according to data from the Single Information Portal.

"We shouldn't count chickens before they are hatched," Health Minister Kostadin Angelov told journalists in Varna, where he is on a visit today admitting of the chaos in the vaccination campaign.

"I can't take any commitments because the result does not depend on us," he said.