New mandatory anti-epidemic measures in Serbia after spike in coronavirus cases

Instead of so far recommended, the face masks will be mandatory in public transport, but the number of people outdoor and indoor space was not limited, neither the working hours of the cafes and restaurants were changed but the face masks inside them had to be worn.

The Crisis Team suggests that those who violated the measures should be punished.

 The measures should be introduced in Belgrade where the number of COVID-19 patients was extremely high, while local authorities in some other places had already implemented similar measures.

Monday's decision came after Serbia's politicians and doctors blame the population for the spike in coronavirus cases. Since the number of people tested positive rose rapidly to reach over 200 a day, they have raced each other in blaming people for disobeying the Crisis Team recommendations.

On May 6, the authorities, based on the Crisis Team suggestion, lifted the state of emergency, a curfew and relaxed almost all anti-epidemic measures introduced in March.

The lifted restrictions included the unlimited number of people at outdoor events and 500 instead of 100 of those who can gather indoor.

That led to soccer matches with the audience up to 20,000 people, an outdoor tennis tournament, weddings and another kind of mass gatherings. Face masks and physical distance were recommended but rarely obeyed.

Then, on June 21, general elections took place. Electoral boards mostly took precautionary steps, but not all voters did.

President Aleksandar Vucic and the officials of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) celebrated the overwhelming election victory with brass music, dancing, hugging – without face masks or wearing them improperly.

A week later, the Parliament Speaker, Defence Minister and the head of the Government Office for Kosovo, who were in the party headquarters for celebration, were tested positive, and two of them were hospitalised. Vucic's media advisor said his health would be monitored since he was close to those infected so far.

Other parties also had either victory celebrations or news conferences, also only rarely respecting anti-epidemic measures.

In the meantime, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) had accessto the so-called information system in which the number of dead and infected people during the epidemic was much higher than those officially reported on the Health Ministry covid19.rs website.

The authorities and some doctors explained the difference by way of classification of deaths from COVID-19 and those with COVID-19.

The chief epidemiologist and a member of the Crisis Team Predrag Kon said that if the BIRN report was correct, that was the reason for his resignation.

However, he and other doctors said they had not seen the report BIRN had access to, and no investigation had been launched to establish what numbers were correct.

In defending the official data, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic gave an example. She told a TV that if she was tested positive on coronavirus and was killed by a bus on the way to a hospital, she didn't die from COVID-19.

Darija Kisic Tepavcevic, a member of the Crisis Team, said on Monday that the voting did not contribute to the increase in numbers of infected in the last week.

She compared the risk at polling stations with shopping, adding the measures were respected.

Dr Zlatibor Loncar, Health Minister, mainly blamed people for disrespecting the recommended measures, while SNS mayor of the central city of Kragujevac said: "Our people need a stick" to behave appropriately. He later said it was a figure of speech.

Some doctors, opposition leaders and analysts have said that people generally lost trust in the authorities, both political and medical, after the BIRN report and the lack of any legal reaction.

They blame the authorities for lifting almost all the measures too soon, charging they put elections and the economy before people's health.