Serbia Restricts Gatherings In Virus Hotspots

Belgrade, July 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jul, 2020 ) :Serbia on Thursday restricted gatherings of more than five people in towns hit by a spike of coronavirus cases.

After reining in its first outbreak of COVID-19 in early May, the Balkan state is now reporting a second surge with around 250 cases daily this week compared to around 50 or less a month ago.

The new clusters came after Serbia shed its lockdown measures to allow sporting events and national elections to go ahead in June.

After returning to normal operations for around one month, three Belgrade hospitals have also again been designated as treatment centres for the new coronavirus.

"Beds are filling up at high speed as soon as they are made available to COVID-19 patients," a doctor at one of the hospitals told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A state of emergency has been re-imposed in four of Serbia's worst-affected towns and cities: Kragujevac, Novi Pazar, Tutin and Vranje.

On Thursday, the government banned gatherings of more than five people in these hotspots if a distance of at least two metres between people cannot be ensured.

Cafes and restaurants will also only be open between 7am and 8pm local time and sports and entertainment events are prohibited.

According to local media, the situation is particularly serious in southwest Novi Pazar and Tutin, where hospitals have reported an overflow of patients and a lack of equipment.

These assertions have been denied and described as "lies" by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, though a team of doctors has been sent to reinforce the hospital in Novi Pazar.

On Wednesday the hospital's coordinator said around 100 people were being treated for the virus, with 17 admitted in the past 24 hours.

"The situation is not great, it will not be easy, we seek patience from citizens and hope to... normalise the situation very soon," Mirsad Djerek told N1 television.

Since the start of the epidemic in Serbia on March 6, nearly 15,000 infections and some 280 deaths have been reported.

A local news outlet, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Project, has accused authorities suppressing the true death toll by not including all deaths of patients who have tested positive for the virus.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic responded by saying that if someone tests positive but is then hit and killed by a bus, that they would not be considered a victim of the respiratory disease.