Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov To Be Fined For Not Wearing Mask In Church

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will be fined 300 levs ($174), the health ministry said, for violating an order to wear a protective face mask during a visit to a church on Tuesday, June 23.

On Monday, June 22, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev directed Bulgarians to begin wearing masks yet again at all indoor public venues. This came after Balkan country recorded its highest weekly rise in COVID-19 last week.

"All persons who were without protective face masks in the church at the Rila Monastery during the prime minister's visit will be fined," the health ministry told Reuters in an email.

The ministry confirmed that journalists, photographers and camera people who accompanied Borissov into the church without masks will be fined as well.

The ministry, however, did not make it clear whether clergy who failed to wear masks inside the church would be penalised too.

Bulgaria had contained the spread of the virus relatively well and had begun to relax measures, until last week when it reported 606 new COVID-19, bringing the total to 3,984, with 207 deaths.

This prompted Ananiev to reimpose mask requirements at indoor public venues, including trains and buses.

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