The daily number of Covid-19 cases in Bulgaria hit another high on Wednesday amid a surge in infections.
The country’s tally of coronavirus infections has risen by 6,813 in the past 24 hours.
The number is considered a new record high daily tally since the start of the pandemic, official data showed on Wednesday.
The virus has killed 124 people in the past 24 hours, according to the figures, bringing the total death toll to 23,440.
Over 7,300 people were in COVID-19 wards in the European Union’s country, overwhelming hospitals amid medical staff shortages.
The WHO has earlier warned that a new coronavirus “variant of interest” named Mu, also known by its scientific name as B.1.621.
The health organisation said it closely monitors the new variant’s spread.
The mu SARS-CoV-2 strain first appeared in Colombia in January, as a “variant of interest.”
Since then, there have been “sporadic reports” of cases and outbreaks in South America and Europe.
Variants of interest have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics including transmissibility, disease severity and immune escape.
According to the WHO, variants of interest differ from variants of concern. The later can cause a decrease in effectiveness of public health measures, vaccines or therapeutics.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also revealed that Covid-19 may have killed 80k-180k health workers.
Covid-19 has severely affected healthcare staff and may have killed between 80,000 and 180,000, the health organisation said.
The deaths occurred between January 2020 and May of this year.
