Most Balkan countries have recently seen an increase in KOVID-19 cases, but only one or two have announced a tightening of measures to combat the pandemic in the past week. Serbia has announced it will introduce a green certificate, and Romania is preparing to disband students on a two-week vacation. At the same time, vaccination campaigns in the Balkans are continuing at a faster or slower pace, and the authorities are trying to promote vaccination as the only proven method to limit the pandemic, BTA reports.
ROMANIA
Against the background of a serious increase in newly infected Romanian students, Romanian students will go on a two-week vacation from Monday. The decision was announced by President Klaus Johannes after a meeting with government officials on measures against the proliferation of KOVID-19. The head of state stressed that vaccination is the only way to end the pandemic and insisted that further restrictions are needed.
Skepticism about vaccines remains high in the country, despite reports that in the first ten days of October, one person died from KOVID-19 every six minutes in the country, according to Reuters. As of October 19, 5.7 million people, or about 29 percent of the total population, had been fully vaccinated.
The country is facing a shortage of beds in intensive care units. This week, Romania also set an absolute black record – 574 people died in just one day from KOVID-19, according to data from the Romanian government on October 18th. The data announced last night were for 448 deaths and 16,110 newly infected.
In SLOVENIA, protests against vaccination and restrictions, especially mandatory green certificates, continue. Prime Minister Janez Jansa blamed protesters for the growing number of coronavirus cases in the country. The number of new cases in Slovenia has almost doubled in recent days compared to the previous week. On October 21, the country registered 1,845 people infected with coronavirus and seven who died of KOVID-19. As of October 19, 1.1 million people or about 52 percent of the country’s population had been vaccinated, BTA reported.
SERBIA
Serbia has decided to introduce green certificates, which take effect tomorrow, October 23rd, at 10 pm. They will be required to enter the closed parts of the restaurants.
The municipal police and all inspections will strictly check not only the green certificates, but also the observance of all existing measures in the shops, shopping centers and similar sites, warned the Prime Minister Ana Bernabic.
Foreigners will need an EU digital certificate or a certificate from a country with which Serbia has signed an agreement recognizing the certificate. The certificate will be available on paper or in digital format on a mobile phone. It may include evidence of complete vaccination as well as a PCR test not older than 72 hours, an antigen test not older than 48 hours or a KOVID-19 disease certificate not older than seven months.
7,327 cases of newly infected and 59 deaths were registered in Serbia yesterday. 2.9 million people or 43 percent of the population have been vaccinated with two doses.
TURKEY
Weekly data on the spread of the coronavirus in the country show that the number of infected people has increased in 46 counties, including Istanbul. At the same time, intensive vaccination continues in the country, where more than 114.6 million doses of vaccine have been administered so far. 76.86 percent of citizens are vaccinated with two doses of vaccine.
The tests on volunteers and the vaccine developed by Turkish teams against KOVID-19 – “Turkovak”, which was given as a third dose, have started.
In recent days, the number of newly registered cases of infection per day is about 30 thousand, and the victims are about two hundred a day. Last night’s data showed 28,465 newly infected and 198 deaths.
GREECE registered an increase in the number of newly infected with KOVID-19, with an increase in eight of the twelve districts on a weekly basis. An analysis of the vaccination campaign shows that thanks to the vaccinations, about 8,400 deaths from KOVID-19 and 5,560 hospitalizations in emergency departments were prevented. The data from the analysis were presented by Professor of Pathology and Infectious Diseases Sotiris Tsiodras, who is also a member of the expert commission at the Ministry of Health.
The risk of death for fully vaccinated people is about 91 percent lower, the analysis shows, and the risk of hospitalization in the emergency department of vaccinated people is 20 times lower, with high efficacy observed in all vaccines.
About 6.3 million Greeks, or nearly 60 percent of all Greeks, have been fully vaccinated. Last night, 3376 new cases of KOVID-19 infection and 34 deaths were reported in the country.
THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS reports a mortality rate of less than one percent for those infected with KOVID-19. The data show that the percentage of deaths due to the pandemic is around 0.46 percent. According to this indicator, the country is one of the first places in Europe in terms of good crisis management.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 6,000 people have passed through the island’s hospitals, 600 of whom have been in intensive care units. Data published on the website of the Ministry of Health show that by October 19, 566.5 thousand or 46.9 percent of the population were vaccinated with a full vaccination cycle.
Measures to tackle the pandemic in the Republic of Cyprus cost one hundred million euros, said at a press conference the manager of the organization for the provision of public health services (OKIPI) Christis Loyzidis. According to him, the costs are expected to increase by another 31 million euros.
Last night, the country reported 144 new cases of coronavirus infection, and the death toll in the last month did not exceed two a day.
ALBANIA reported 566 new cases of coronavirus last night after a peak of 1,079 on September 8th. The death toll is also declining, with six people losing the coronavirus battle last night compared to September 17-29. As of October 18, more than 860,000 people or 30.3 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated.
In CROATIA, the incidence of KOVID-19 infections is increasing, with 3,162 newly infected cases reported on 20 October, the highest level since 8 April. Last night the number of established infections was 3053. 17 people died during the day, according to the data released last night, and on October 20 the victims of KOVID-19 were 23. As of October 19, 1.76 million of the country’s citizens or 43.4 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated.
At its last meeting, the National Civil Protection Headquarters decided to extend until 31 October the implementation of measures providing for restrictions on the number of people gathering in one place, use of masks, visits to shops, use of public transport and restriction on border crossings. points.
490 new cases of coronavirus infection were found in the REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA last night. 14 people died during the day. Nearly 765,000 Macedonians were fully vaccinated by October 20th. This corresponds to 36.7 percent of the total population.
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Northern Macedonia announced that it is negotiating with the manufacturer of the drug molnupiravir against KOVID-19 for its delivery. Clinical trials to date have shown that hospitalizations with this drug have been reduced by 50 percent. However, the ministry points out that the drug and the KOVID-19 vaccine cannot be compared. Vaccines prevent severe disease, complications from hospitalization or death, experts say.
There are 422 new cases of coronavirus infection in MONTENEGRO for the day, according to data for October 21, and the number of victims of the disease has dropped to 4 compared to 13 on 18 October and 6 September and 15 on 3 September – the highest levels recently. . As of October 20, more than 233 thousand people or 37.8 percent of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated.
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