There are no new areas reporting higher incidence of the disease. The incidence rate remains higher than normal in Stara Zagora, Haskovo, and Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria. Not a single registered hepatitis A case is reported in 19 districts, among them Kyustendil and Pazardjik.

In Bulgaria cases of hepatitis are registered each week in all seasons. In 2011 the country enters a cycle of a higher hepatitis incidence, meaning that more than the normal number of cases will continue to appear over the next couple of weeks, the Health Ministry said.

All necessary measures to contain the spreading of the disease have been taken, including readiness to provide more beds in hospitals. So far such a need has appeared only in Stara Zagora and Haskovo.

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF ) said it is ready to transfer the respective payments to the hospitals in Stara Zagora and Haskovo for the reported cases of hepartitis patients, up to the limits laid down for an epidemic.

Regional NHIF units are making calcualtions by how much the budgets in the two hospitals were exceeded due to the higher incidence of the disease so that funding could be provided on a priority basis to these hospitals through the redistribution of budget outlays.