The members of the Department of Medical Sciences at BAS, which includes some of the most prominent specialists in the field of medicine and healthcare, are extremely concerned about the threatening development of the coronavirus pandemic in Bulgaria and around the world. More than 43 million people are already infected in the world and over 1.2 million have died; in our country – over 43 000 are infected of which nearly 2 000 are health workers, over 2 200 are in hospital, nearly 1 150 have died. These values ​​are growing daily and forecasts are really very alarming, especially considering the upcoming flu epidemic at the end of the year. The negative impact of the pandemic is huge not only on human health but also on the social and economic life in the country.

Particular attention should be paid to the early and late consequences of a coronavirus infection which can affect all organs and systems of the human body. Unfortunately, there are still people who do not understand or deny the seriousness of this pandemic and create many difficulties in the correct, scientifically and practically justified fight against it. This requires a full unification of the efforts of the whole society, of all state, municipal and other public institutions, of every reasonably thinking citizen to fight the coronavirus infection. It is our professional and moral duty to contribute with our extensive experience and expertise to the understanding and control of this pandemic of great health, economic and social significance. There is a huge amount of information that appears and is updated every day in the public space about the mechanism of infection, its diagnosis and treatment, and especially prevention, which we closely monitor and analyze. Data reported by the world’s largest centers for infectious diseases in the world, such as the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Johns Hopkins University, USA, Paul Ehrlich Institute, Germany and many others, strongly propose measures and support a policy to limit the pandemic by:

  • introduction of quarantine measures of different nature and size, according to the local or national spread of the infection,
  • high civic discipline and awareness of wearing masks in public places and glasses prescribed for vision correction, as it is an airborne infection,
  • observance of social and physical distance, with restriction of mass public events,
  • high personal hygiene, especially with regular hand washing, as the virus can stay on various surfaces for a long time,
  • taking supplements to support the immune system when a person is still clinically healthy, for prophylactic purposes, to stimulate natural, innate immunity,
  • limiting unnecessary social contacts,
  • active outdoor sports,
  • wholesome food with a predominance of fruits and vegetables.

Observance of all these measures, which have been actively proposed in our country so far, is the only opportunity to limit the coronavirus infection. Medical science does not yet dispose of its specific, causal treatment; a truly harmless and effective vaccine is also a problem of the future. What we can all do as a society and as individuals is to show a high sense of awareness and discipline and to comply with these basic requirements, thus reducing the alarming spread of the infection and its consequences. In this respect, the role of the institutions responsible for monitoring the proper implementation of these measures is very important. We pay special attention to the media because the behavior of the society depends a lot on the objective information, without introducing unnecessary panic and anxiety. In this sense, we express our support for the policy pursued by the Ministry of Health and the National Operational Staff which is scientifically sound and the only correct one at the moment. We highly appreciate the activity of our colleagues from other units of BAS, who with their practical work and competent appearances in the media contribute to the correct understanding of the coronavirus infection and dealing with it.

Acad. Bogdan Petrunov, Acad. Vladimir Ovcharov, Acad. Vanio Mitev, Acad. Damyan Damyanov, Acad. Ivan Milanov, Acad. Lachezar Traykov, Acad. Nikolay Popov, Acad. Petia Vasileva, Acad. Radomir Radomirov, Corresponding Member Asen Gudev, Corresponding Member Grigor Gorchev, Corresponding Member Ivan Mitov, Corresponding Member Yovcho Topalov, Corresponding Member Nikolay Petrov, Corresponding Member Nikolai Tsankov, Corresponding Member Olga Polyakova, Corresponding Member Chavdar Slavov.