Bulgaria reported 9,996 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, setting a new record daily tally following a surge of cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Health authorities in the European Union's least vaccinated country said 161 deaths had been reported on Tuesday.

Bulgaria changed its rules that could prompt new restrictions, linking them to the occupancy of intensive care beds rather than the number of new infections.

For now, health authorities are not imposing new measures, with 5,223 people in hospitals and 541 in intensive care units.

The country of 7 million people has reported 830,604 infections since the start of the pandemic and 32,247 COVID-related deaths.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova Editing by Tomasz Janowski)