The lockdown will not include a curfew but will involve the closing of restaurants and ordering school students that are 13 or older to move to remote learning, the government said.
Dozens of Bulgarians have rushed to get a jab since Saturday, improving the country's record of inoculations, which was the worst in the European Union, but also quickly depleting the supplies of AstraZeneca doses. "I emphasise that failure to stick to the announced delivery schedule by AstraZeneca compromises the vaccination campaign in Bulgaria," he wrote.
Joint France-German police patrols could be stepped up, the ministries said, adding that France's vaccination programme in the region was also being sped up and testing would be boosted. It comes after studies suggested that current vaccines offer less protection against the South African variant, which has a key mutation - E484K - that is thought to help the virus evade parts of the immune system.
A lack of confidence in a homegrown vaccine country could prevent India from meeting its target of vaccinating 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August. "These things created doubts in the minds of people,resulting in lesser acceptance. The availability is not a concern at this juncture."