Sofia, May 30 (IANS): The Bulgarian government has extended the nationwide Covid-19 pandemic emergency until July 31, the cabinet said in a statement.

The epidemic emergency was initially declared on May 14 last year with a duration of one month, replacing the state of emergency implemented on March 13, Xinhua news agency.

It has already been extended several times, with the last extension to the end of May.

"The prolongation of the epidemic situation and the implementation of anti-epidemic measures in the country aim to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on public health and the health care system, taking into account the real risk of the spread of different variants of SARS-CoV-2 in Bulgaria with high infectivity," the statement issued on Saturday said.

A total of 417,133 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 17,581 deaths have been registered in Bulgaria so far.

The Balkan country has been seeing a downward trend in the epidemic since mid-April.

Meanwhile, vaccinations have been picking up pace, with 1.283 million doses administered till date.