Sharjah24 - Reuters: Bulgaria plans to lift the obligatory COVID-19 "green certificate" for entry to restaurants, shopping malls and other public venues from March 20 as coronavirus infections ease, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on Monday.

The health pass - a digital or paper certificate showing someone has been vaccinated, tested negative or recently recovered from the virus - was made obligatory for most indoor spaces in Bulgaria last October.

Its introduction has prompted a series of protests in the European Union's least vaccinated member state, angering bar and restaurant owners and anti-vaccine activists. A massive new protest is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Balkan country of 7 million people has seen a double-digit drop in new coronavirus cases on a weekly basis in the past three weeks. On Monday, it reported 1,235 new daily infections, compared with more than 12,000 new cases registered on Jan. 26.

"We managed to pass through the Omicron wave without massive closures of schools or businesses... Our forecasts show that around March 20 it would be possible to end all restrictions in the country linked to the Green Certificate," Petkov told reporters.