Europe has quarantined for the first time after what health authorities called a spike in cases.
The latest official figures showed a rise of 117 cases in a country that has for weeks been under lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
A European Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) spokeswoman referred to a report from a strict lockdown held on March 8-21.
“The number of cases is increasing daily and steadily increasing a week with each confirmation,” she said, without going into detail about the number of people infected or the age at which they had caught the virus.
At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Bulgaria reported 67 new cases, down from 91 the previous day. Bulgaria has for weeks been under a 14-day diet imposed over food safety, subject to a limit of 250 cases a day.
The European Union’s executive EU executive arm, which runs the bloc’s borderless access to health services, has said it would help national authorities contain the virus which has infected 5.2 million and killed 67,300.
The bloc’s 27 member states have 40 days to implement their own lockdown measures, the the bloc’s top medical council said on Wednesday, opening up the possibility of reviving some measures once a tighter rule is in force.
Germany has significantly tightened restrictions at home and around the border from March to try to slow the spread of the virus from one of Europe’s worst-affected economies.
Italy is widely considered by Brussels to be the EU’s most successful in containing the disease, with nearly 815,000 confirmed cases and 241 deaths. Spain has more than 20,000 cases and 179 deaths.