After the World Health Organization (WHO) has established that COVID-19 is more resilient than the initial data was showing, the National Crisis-management Staff increased the recovery house quarantine by a week to 28 days.

These are China, Iran, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Spain, Italy, South Korea, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

[40] The cases in Blagoevgrad, a mother and her daughter, were initially refused admission to the local hospital despite visible symptoms and had to request testing at a private lab; by the time the results came out as positive, the patients' condition had deteriorated significantly.

[45] Hassan Ademov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms became the first Bulgarian member of parliament to contract the virus, forcing the announcement of a mass test on 2 April that would cover government staff and all 240 MPs.

[49] The confirmed case count reached 487, after 28 new infections were registered – 18 in Sofia, two each in Plovdiv and Smolyan, and one each in Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Veliko Tarnovo and Vidin.

[72] Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov announced on his Instagram account that he has tested positive for COVID-19 which lead to the cancellation of Adria Tour, where he had participated the weeks before.

[77][78] This decision was regarded by many experts as being long overdue because of the huge strain on the country's health system, resulting in many people not being able to receive access to adequate medical care,[79][80] and the Prime Minister faced strong criticism from other politicians.

[88] Due to the worsening epidemiological situation, a "green certificate" that could be obtained by showing proof of vaccination, recovery from an infection or a negative COVID-19 test was introduced as a requirement for many public activities from 21 October.

[92] Iva Hristova, head of the Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, insisted that the presence of Omicron will need to be confirmed through genomic sequencing, for which the private laboratories do not possess the technology, with accurate findings expected to become available after the new year.

[93] On 29 December 2021, virologist Radka Argirova who serves as an advisor of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov stated that there are strong indications that Omicron is already in Bulgaria, referring to a number of suspected cases, all of them among people who had travelled abroad.

[103] After the health authorities reported 9996 positive tests on 18 January 2022,[104] on the next day the number of registered daily cases surpassed 10 000 for the first time, with 11 181 new infections announced for the previous 24 hours.

[112] On 1 April 2022 the emergency epidemiological situation in Bulgaria was lifted by the Council of Ministers, resulting in the abolishment of virtually all non-pharmaceutical interventions such as capacity limits for venues and mask mandates,[113] with protective face coverings continuing to be recommended in indoor spaces and any high risk environments.

[114] The decision to drop restrictions has generally been regarded as being in line with the improved epidemiological situation,[115][116] following the trends in other European countries,[117] though some experts have characterized it as hasty due to the low vaccination coverage of the population[118] and cautioned that it could lead to false sense of calm that the pandemic is over.

[121] In late April 2022, mathematician Nikolay Vitanov stated that the reproduction number for the virus in Bulgaria is 0.82, characterizing the situation in the country as lacking the diffuse spread of Western Europe,[122] which he believed to have been a factor behind the decision to remove the restrictions.

[128] Following the appointment of Asen Medzhidiev as caretaker Health Minister, from 11 August 2022, the pandemic-related measures in Sofia, especially those pertaining to masks, were once again relaxed, and a large amount of free rapid antigen tests were provided.

[183] Some 111,000 suits and masks are required every month and the government plans to distribute them to health workers, social assistants, law enforcement personnel and border guards.

[188] On 30 March, the Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev decreed wearing masks in public mandatory, both outdoors and indoors, despite nationwide protective equipment shortages and soaring prices.

[192] Under article 209a of the Health Law, which was passed on 13 March and does not discriminate between offenses, failing to wear a mask in public would result in a fine of BGN 5,000 (EUR 2,555).

The new decree included "towels, scarves, et al," despite reports that "[t]here is only limited indirect evidence that non-medical face masks are effective as a means of source control.

[50] On 10 April, Sofia City Prosecutor's Office indicted Prof. Asena Stoimenova, chairwoman of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union, under article 326 of the Penal Code following "a series of statements inciting fear in the population during the state of emergency.

[204] On 27 March, the Ministry of Health announced that the country now has the capacity to process between 1,000 and 1,200 tests per day, at an estimated cost of BGN 930,000 (EUR 475,000) per month.

Major General Ventsislav Mutafchiyski called all three types "equally important", as the PCR ones provided reliable data, while the fluorescence tests could speed up the process before quick ones are applied to establish how many people have acquired immunity.

[206] Conversely, Prof. Radka Argirova, chairman of the National Expert Board in Virology at the Bulgarian Doctors' Union, urged increased rapid testing to discover asymptomatic cases, avoiding the chance of a future second peak and terminating the epidemic progression.

[212] After testing positive for COVID-19, business magnate Kiril Domuschiev announced that his company will procure chloroquine from foreign sources and donate it to the national coronavirus task force.

[216] The shipment was delivered using a NATO Boeing C-17 Globemaster III piloted by a Bulgarian Air Force captain; the cargo also included more than 1,600,000 masks and 50 ventilators.

[221] According to a research conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the pandemic was expected to reach its peak in Bulgaria in the end of April.

[231] А "Trend" survey between 1 and 5 April 2020 saw 35% demand stronger measures against COVID-19, 39% rating the government policies as sufficiently strict and 23% expressing the opinion that the pandemic controls need to be relaxed.

[233] According to a Eurobarometer poll conducted between March and April 2021 82% of Bulgarians expressed a wish that the European Union acquires enhanced prerogatives in handling crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

[234] An April 2022 academic paper characterized Bulgaria as "perhaps the most heavily affected" Eastern European country in terms of excess mortality data, with the late imposition of restrictions on social mobility and the insufficient government control deemed likely to be the major factors behind this statistic.

[235] The high degree of income inequality in Bulgaria has been associated with corruption and lack of institutional trust, contributing to many issues with the country's response to the pandemic.