Of 5130 beds for asylum seers in accommodation and reception centers across the country, around twenty percent are used as of March 22, the new refugee agency head has announced.

Petya Parvanova told private bTV broadcaster on Monday the capacity could be increased to 6000 in cases of emergency.

Parvanova assumed office at the State Agency for Refugees (DAB) in mid-March after her predecessor, Nikola Kazakov, was dismissed.

Early in February Kazakov had said only 8% of the centers' accommodation capacity was being used.

The figures are far below the ones of the early autumn of last year, but authorities say migratory pressure is expected to increase with rising temperatures this year as well.

Parvanova also made clear there were no plans at the moment to build a refugee accommodation center at the site of a former barracks in the southwestern town of Kresna, near the borders with Macedonia and Greece.

A thousand Kresna inhabitants (out of a population of around 3628) demonstrated on Monday against reported plans to create the facility, fearing asylum seekers accommodated there might spread diseases or commit crimes.

Authorities admitted the idea had been brought up in conversations with the local administration, but no decision had been made.