Due to the outbreak of coronaviruses in Italy, tourist workers in Medjugorje canceled the arrival of Italian guests, and for the first time, the traditional International Seminar for pilgrimage organizers from all over the world has been canceled.
”The International Seminar for Pilgrimage Organizers was scheduled to begin on March 2nd. The seminar was postponed indefinitely by the Parish Office for preventive reasons, ” Tourist Board leader Zeljko Vasilj told Klix.ba news portal.
According to Vasilj, about 60 tourists from Italy are currently staying in Medjugorje, but they are not from the places affected by the coronavirus.
He points out that instructions for all levels of government, especially health and epidemiological services from the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, are awaiting further steps. ”There are no problems so far. The guests who are here will be back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, whether anyone will come in the meantime, we do not know, we will see how things will go,” Vasilj says.
In the whole story, as he emphasizes, there is a happy circumstance that all this is happening at a time when Medjugorje is a “dead season” and when there are practically no large number of guests.
”Our guests need to come to Medjugorje in a month and a half or two, and I hope that by that time, all will settle down, because the most numerous guests in Medjugorje are Italians. As he points out, up to half a million tourists from Italy visit Medjugorje annually.
On Monday, the country reported 508 new infections, compared with 409 on Sunday. The bulk of the new cases were in Wuhan.
The death toll in China rose by 71 to 2,663. More than 77,000 people in the country have been infected.
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.
Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
