Bulgaria's third region declares flu epidemic

SOFIA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that the coastal Burgas District has become the third region this year to declare a flu epidemic.

From January 22 to 30, temporary anti-epidemic measures will be enforced in Burgas. These include the suspension of in-person classes, extracurricular activities, and hospital visits.

Similar measures are already in place in two other districts. Varna's restrictions, initially set for January 14-20, have been extended to January 26 due to high case numbers. In Dobrich, measures will remain until the end of this week.

National data for the week of January 12-18 show 121,254 people were examined for influenza and acute respiratory diseases (ARD), with 4,194 hospitalized.

Children aged 5-14 were the most affected group, with 7,670 cases per 100,000 population. They were followed by children aged 0-4, with 6,108 cases per 100,000. ■