pharmacies, banks and gas stations remain open. additionally, all arrivals from italy, iran, spain, china and south korea were placed under a mandatory 14-day quarantine. there were 13 breaches of quarantine; patients involved were returned to treatment facilities and warned of repercussions, including fines and prison sentences. 14 march on 14 march, a second death and a third case in pleven were reported. the second death the virus was the 74-year-old husband of the first death. late in the evening on 31 march a member of parliament was tested positive for the virus. all mps were urgently tested on the following day. if some of them are also tested positive, the parliament will be adjourned. options for the mps to continue their legislative work (including voting) online from home under isolation are being explored. 15 march the number of confirmed cases in bulgaria rose to 51 on 15 march. a total of 83 tests were done at the military medical academy, of which six were positive, and 51 were processed at the national reference laboratory, of which two were positive. in varna, one test out of 12 samples proved positive. 16 march the ministry of health announced that citizens from a number of countries would be prohibited from entering bulgaria starting 00:00 on 18 march. these are china, iran, bangladesh, india, the maldives, nepal, sri lanka, spain, italy, south korea, france, germany, the netherlands, switzerland and the united kingdom. additionally, sanitary control units will be established on some border crossings with romania, greece, serbia and north macedonia. the number of total cases rose to 62, including two british citizens vacationing in bansko. 17 march 81 cases were reported, several linked to an outbreak in bansko. none of the patients were in critical condition. 18 march the total number of cases increased to 94 by 18 march, with new cases appearing in smolyan, veliko tarnovo and pernik among recent arrivals from outside the country. the previous day, bansko became the first town in the country to be put under quarantine. 19 march on 19 march the cases rose to 105 and an 80-year-old woman, who recently had a stroke, died from covid-19 on the same day, making her the third death from the disease in bulgaria. elsewhere, a 78-year-old bulgarian citizen died from covid-19 while visiting family in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. the woman, a choir conductor in sofia, was uninsured and refused to seek medical attention. 20 march the total number of cases increased to 127 and the first recovery occurred. 21 march the number of cases increased to 142 by noon, and three patients had recovered. two cities, dobrich and shumen, confirmed their first cases, the latter related to the bansko cluster. there are 84 male and 58 female patients, the youngest being 4 years old, and the oldest 81 years old. more than 5,000 tests had been carried out, and an additional 10,000 tests would be made available at short notice. 24 march the cases increased to 218 and the first case in stara zagora province was confirmed. a man from the town of kazanlak was admitted in the infectious unit in the hospital in stara zagora. he is believed to be 60 years old and returned from france on 14 march. 25 march the number of cases increased to 242 by the end of the day, with the city of sliven reporting its first confirmed case. 16 new cases with no relation between them were registered in sofia, with some being medical staff from a local hospital. two new cases were confirmed in blagoevgrad, two in plovdiv and one in pleven. two of the patients who were in critical condition were stabilized but remain "in stable but severe condition". one recovered completely, bringing the number of total recoveries to 5. 26 march a total of 22 new cases were reported, bringing the overall number to 264. the coronavirus was registered for the first time in kardzhali and haskovo. 15 of the newly confirmed cases were in sofia, 2 in smolyan, one in pleven, one in veliko tarnovo and one in varna. two people were admitted to hospital in critical condition, while three new patients recovered, bringing the number of recovered to 8. three soldiers were confirmed to be infected – two were stationed in kosovo and were immediately brought back to sofia, and the other contracted the virus in romania, where he was hospitalized. 27 march 29 new cases were registered, with the total number reaching 293. from these, 17 were in sofia, 5 in plovdiv, 3 in burgas, and one each in varna, kyustendil, sliven and pazardzhik. at least 93 people remained hospitalized, with 53 in sofia alone. 28 march the total number of cases reached 331, an increase of 38 from the previous day. the new cases included 19 in sofia, 5 in blagoevgrad, 4 in burgas, 3 in varna, 2 each in kardzhali, plovdiv and shumen, and 1 in smolyan. four new deaths were also reported, with two occurring in blagoevgrad and one each in kyustendil and sofia. the cases in blagoevgrad, a mother and her daughter, were initially refused admission to the local hospital despite visible symptoms and had to request testing at a private lab; by the time the results came out as positive, the patients' condition had deteriorated significantly. they were eventually admitted and sent to intensive care, but both died shortly after. 29 march a total of 15 new cases were reported, with 8 in sofia, 3 in plovdiv, and one each in kardzhali, sliven, smolyan and varna. three new recoveries were also announced, while the number of deaths rose to 8 after a 51-year-old woman died in the blagoevgrad hospital, one day after her mother had died from the virus. the ministry of health announced that 125 out of 324 active cases remain hospitalized, with 13 of those in serious condition. the total number of tests performed exceeded 7,000, with 276 done on 29 march alone. 30 march thirteen new cases were reported, with seven in sofia and one each in blagoevgrad, kardzhali, montana, pleven, plovdiv and sliven, for a total of 359 cases. 113 patients remained hospitalized, with 13 in serious condition. around 56% of all those infected so far were male versus 44% female, with a median age of 45. the total number of recoveries rose to 17. 31 march the total number of confirmed infections increased by 40 to 399, and the first two cases were reported from the province of silistra. 20 of the new cases were registered in sofia, four each in burgas and kyustendil, three each in plovdiv and varna, two in silistra, and one each in kardzhali, pernik, shumen and stara zagora. the number of hospitalized patients increased to 146, with 14 in serious condition, while 20 medical workers were announced to have contracted the disease so far. no new deaths or recoveries were announced. from the total of 399 confirmed cases, just under 57% (227) were male, versus 43% (172) who were female. 1 april the province of ruse reported its first case as part of 23 new infections across the country, bringing the total to 422. in addition to ruse, 10 new cases were reported in sofia, two each in blagoevgrad, burgas, dobrich and plovdiv, and one each in haskovo, kardzhali, sliven and stara zagora. two deaths were registered – a 57-year-old man in kyustendil and a 40-year-old man in sofia. hassan ademov from the movement for rights and freedoms became the first bulgarian member of parliament to contract the virus, forcing the announcement of a mass test on 2 april that would cover government staff and all 240 mps. 2 april the total number of infections increased by 35 to 457, with the first case being reported from the province of vidin. the new cases included 20 in sofia, four in smolyan, three in varna, two in dobrich, and one each in blagoevgrad, montana, pazardzhik, plovdiv, veliko tarnovo and vidin. no new deaths were reported, while the number of recoveries reached 25. 179 patients were currently hospitalized, with 18 in intensive care. a further two mps were among the new cases, both from the ruling gerb party, including their parliamentary group speaker daniela daritkova. 3 april the national assembly approved the government's proposal to extend the state of emergency by one month until 13 may. the confirmed case count reached 487, after 28 new infections were registered – 18 in sofia, two each in plovdiv and smolyan, and one each in blagoevgrad, burgas, kardzhali, kyustendil, veliko tarnovo and vidin. four deaths were also announced, with one occurring late on the previous evening in stara zagora. male patients continued to account for just under 57% of all cases (versus 43% female), with a median age of 47. 5 april the ministry of health announced that the total number of covid-19 tests had reached 15,899, with 8 laboratories performing the procedure across the country. 14 april the village of panicherovo in stara zagora province was placed under quarantine, after a covid-19 positive man escaped from a hospital where he was being treated and returned to the village. 15 april the ministry of interior established checkpoints limiting movement in and out of the predominantly roma-populated sofia neighborhoods of filipovtsi and fakulteta. the neighborhoods were categorized as covid-19 clusters by the national crisis management center. 16 april in a late night emergency joint press conference of the minister of interior, the minister of health, and the chairman of the national crisis management center, it was announced that entering and exiting sofia would be severely limited until further notice following increased traffic out of the city before the easter holidays. following numerous imported cases from britain (e.g. a 78-years old briton whose sister was known to have been infected by the coronavirus and a bulgarian repatriate from varna) the civil aviation authority put a ban on all flights between britain and bulgaria. the decree refers to the sharp increase in covid-19 cases in that country for the last weeks surpassing the level in other concerned countries. three days before the measure was implemented the governor of varna oblast had expressed his apprehension regarding the flights between varna and london. 20 april the ministry of health announced the renewal of planned surgeries and hospitalizations, immunizations, child and prenatal care. these will be conducted under strict schedule on tuesday and thursday of each week. 21 april the hour limitations on entering and exiting sofia were lifted. 27 april the prohibition of the passenger air traffic between bulgaria and britain was revoked after 11 days. 1 may compulsory mask-wearing in open public spaces was rescinded with a new decree by the minister of health. national parks outside municipal boundaries, closed to the public on 20 march, were reopened, with local authorities commissioned to provide the organization for visitors. 2 may the first case in the province of razgrad was confirmed, meaning that now 27 out of 28 provinces have proven cases of covid-19. on this day also, was recorded the first death of a medic. a 43-years-old female doctor from sliven died after contracting the disease. she worked in the infectious diseases department in the city of sliven. 4 may dr andrea ammon, director of ecdc, listed bulgaria as the only country monitored by the centre still seeing an increase in newly registered cases. 6 may checkpoints outside provincial centres were removed and restrictions limiting inter-city travel lifted. 9 may targovishte, the last bulgarian province without any registered cases yet, had its first covid-19 case confirmed. 14 may as of 14 may at 00:00, the national emergency was lifted, and in its place was declared a state of an emergency epidemic situation. organ transplantations are allowed again after a 2-month ban. parks are open for the use of all. most of the anti-epidemic measures are still valid. the 14-day quarantine for everyone who enters the country remains. schools and daycares remain closed, as well as shopping centers and indoor restaurants. 21 june bulgarian tennis player grigor dimitrov announced on his instagram account that he has tested positive for covid-19 which lead to the cancellation of adria tour, where he had participated the weeks before. multiple other tennis players tested positive the following days. 1 august it was