Interior Minister Nake Culev said that he opposed the proposal for a long, nearly four day lockdown over May Day. Culev said that the number of newly diagnosed cases is dropping and the need for such drastic measures, as seen over the Palm Sunday and Easter weekends is no longer there.

The citizens are responsible, overall they follow the measures to limit their movement and they are aware of the Covid-19 threat. During the meeting of the Government crisis center I again stated my position that it is necessary that we do not go further toward restricting the movement.

I believe that this coming weekend should have a lockdown similar to the one during the previous weekend, Culev said. On Palm Sunday and Easter the public was locked down for more than three and four days, respectively, but this past weekend, the lockdown started on Saturday afternoon and ended on Monday morning.

Culev also said that he requested that forest and mountain areas are kept open. May Day is traditionally time for picnics and barbecuing. And while most experts agree that the public needs to be in the open and get some sun, it’s unclear how well the distancing measures would be kept.