Aljosa Campara, the Interior Minister of Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) entity, said he was absolutely against a 24-hour quarantine and asked the citizens to have a little more patience with the measures that the authorities introduced to combat the coronavirus spread.

Speaking to N1, the minister said the situation in this half of the country is satisfying and he thanked the citizens for respecting the orders and recommendations.

“They make it easier for police officers. There are always some irresponsible individuals who disturb all that, who make problems for the police. Those are irresponsible individuals who ignore the orders, who don't respect the curfew or other measures. They deserve sanctions and all kinds of fines because they are jeopardising all other citizens,” said Campara.

It has been a month since the authorities declared the state of emergency, he recalled, stressing that most of the citizens act in the way they should but that rare individuals are not.

“We will certainly introduce stricter measures for those irresponsible ones. I understand the civil protection authorities, the pressure they feel and their concerns. What matters the most to us is that pandemic does not grow exponentially but linearly. I'm asking the citizens for a little more of patience,” said the minister.

He could not specify for how long will the anti-coronavirus measures remain in effect, noting that the authorities are closely following the situation in the rest of the region and Europe.

“In a way, the measures we imposed gave results and I hope it will stay like that, and that we will see the stage of decline at the end of April,” said the minister.

Asked if the FBiH needs a 24-hour quarantine, Campara replied he was absolutely against such a measure and that full quarantine could be introduced only if the situation escalated.

“We have to think about the citizens and how would they feel in a situation with a 24-hour quarantine,” he added.