As authorities say, the increase in the number of newly infectedis expected. As a reason for the worsening of the situation, they state the return from vacations, but also the relaxation in respecting epidemiological measures. We are close to the fourth wave, but does that mean that stricter measures will be introduced?
Statistics from the past few days show an increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), this week in some cantons there is an increase of 80 percent compared to the last. In Republika Srpska (RS), the number of positive patients in the three days of this week is 70, while during the whole of lastweek it was 95. However, the authorities still assess the epidemiological situation as stable.
“Yesterday we had a session of the Crisis Staff. The only new measure that has been adopted is at the level of cantons, the Institute of Public Health, ministries of education, and crisis staffs to adopt a model of the beginning of the school year and that to be a cantonal model depending on the epidemiological situation, ” Goran Cerkez, FBiH Assistant Minister of Health, explained yesterday.
The fourth wave is ahead of us, but there are no new measures yet. They are ready in case of further worsening, the authorities noted. The introduction of measures depends on differentparameters.
“An increase of over 10% represents a certain risk. Currently, we have 17.5% on today’s daily level and it is obviously an alarm when we talk about the worsening of the situation. We believe that at the next session of the Republic we will consider the whole situation in the previous period, ” said Branislav Zeljkovic, director of the RS Institute of Public Health.
This situation, they say, is expected since many are returning from travel and vacations. On the other hand, the epidemiological situation dictates the conditions for border crossings. BiH is still on the green list of the European Union (EU). The EU will make a new section of the situation in fifteen days. It also depends on the epidemiological picture whether we will stay on that list, which enables us to enter the European space more easily.
Authorities warn that measures to restrict gatherings are still in force. Although the restrictions allow 120 people in the open air in the RS, and 100 in the FBiH, during the summer months we are witnessing numerous concerts and festivals with several thousand visitors. By the end of working hours, we did not receive an answer from the police as to whether controls and sanctions for violating the mentioned measures had been carried out, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.