⁍ Bulgaria is seeing a steep rise in new infections over the past three weeks.

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⁍ The fast spread of the infection is putting the Balkan country’s health system under great stress.

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⁍ Prime Minister Boyko Borissov along with three ministers of his cabinet have been self-isolating since Friday.

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– The mayor of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, has decided to shut down the city’s nightclubs and discos for two weeks as the country deals with a spike in coronavirus infections, Reuters reports. “The situation is Sofia is becoming increasingly alarming,” she said. “We have a new increase in infections and of people who need hospital treatment. This is straining the hospitals.” Over the past three weeks, there have been more than 39,000 infections in Bulgaria, with 584 of them reported in Sofia alone, according to data from the coronavirus information platform. Smaller provincial cities with high numbers of infections like Pernik, 36 km west of Sofia, as well as Sliven in the southwest and Shumen in the northeast, have also opted to close nightclubs for two weeks. The fast spread of the infection is putting the Balkan country’s health system under great stress and Bulgarian authorities have banned non-urgent surgeries in regions that have more than 120 infections per 100,000 people to provide more bed capacity for COVID patients. As of Saturday, some 1,886 people with COVID-19 were being treated in hospitals, with 127 in intensive care. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov along with three ministers of his cabinet have been self-isolating since Friday after a deputy minister they were in contact with tested positive for the virus.