Bulgarian president tests negative for COVID-19

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev's has tested negative a second time for the coronavirus and expects his compulsory self-isolation to be lifted, his office said on Wednesday. The 57-year-old former military pilot halted a visit to Estonia to return home on Tuesday after contact last week with a military officer who later tested positive.

Upon arrival at the Sofia airport, Radev said he was symptom-free and showed a negative result of a test he took in Estonia on Monday. Another test taken after his landing also came up negative on Wednesday, his office said. "President Radev is currently under a quarantine and awaits the decision of the local health authorities to lift it after his second test came out negative," his spokesman Kiril Atanasov said.

In office since early 2017, Radev is a critic of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's centre-right government and supports anti-graft protests ongoing since July. On Wednesday, the Balkan nation of 7 million people recorded a new record high number of daily infections of 1,336, bringing the total confirmed COVID-19 cases to 31,863 including 1,019 deaths.