The first case of a coronavirus-infected patient in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity (FBiH), and a fifth in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was confirmed today at the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo (KCUS), Vijesti.ba news portal reports.
More precisely, as the Faktor news portal reports, it is a patient from the city of Zenica.
It is a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who resided in Lombardy, part of Italy, where the situation is alarming.
The first cases of coronavirus patients in our country were reported in Banja Luka, involving a man and his minor son. The third case involved a man from Celinac arriving by car from Italy along with a man from Banja Luka who was first found to be coronavirus positive.
The fourth case is a girl from Celinac.
We all recognize that the situation with the spread of the coronavirus is very serious and could well get worse. This affects us all. Let me start with what we know and what we don’t yet know about the coronavirus and then how the global community can support those affected by this crisis in an effective and coordinated way, International Monetary Fund reports.
What We Know
We know that the disease is spreading quickly. With over one-third of our membership affected directly, this is no longer a regional issue—it is a global problem calling for a global response.
We also know that it will eventually retreat, but we don’t know how fast this will happen.
We know that this shock is somewhat unusual as it affects significant elements of both supply and demand: supply will be disrupted due to morbidity and mortality, but also the containment efforts that restrict mobility and higher costs of doing business due to restricted supply chains and a tightening of credit., demand will also fall due to higher uncertainty, increased precautionary behavior, containment efforts, and rising financial costs that reduce the ability to spend. These effects will spill over across borders.
Under any scenario, global growth in 2020 will drop below last year’s level.
Experience suggests that about one-third of the economic losses from the disease will be direct costs: from loss of life, workplace closures, and quarantines. The remaining two-thirds will be indirect, reflecting a retrenchment in consumer confidence and business behavior and a tightening in financial markets.
The good news is that financial systems are more resilient than before the Global Financial Crisis. However, our biggest challenge right now is handling uncertainty.
Under any scenario, global growth in 2020 will drop below last year’s level. How far it will fall, and for how long, is difficult to predict, and would depend on the epidemic, but also on the timeliness and effectiveness of our actions.
This is particularly challenging for countries with weaker health systems and response capacity—calling for a global coordination mechanism to accelerate the recovery of demand and supply.
