If the situation regarding Covid-19 in Bosnia worsens even further, it could compromise the voting process in the November local elections, Head of the Epidemiological Department of Bosnia's Federation entity (FBiH) Ministry of Health Sanjin Musa told N1 on Thursday, adding that his department advised all political parties to avoid campaign rallies.

“From an epidemiological point of view, a significant deterioration could compromise the voting process. For that reason, the FBiH Epidemiological Department had left the cantonal headquarters with the option of implementing partial lockdowns,” Musa said.

“All gatherings are an epidemiological threat, considering that over the last 10 days we have recorded an accelerated spread of the virus in the population and a worsening of the epidemiological situation in general,” Musa noted.

According to him, the goal of all the measured his and cantonal epidemiological departments have implemented so far is to “reduce individual risk through preventive measures and personal behaviour within the community where we're trying to lower the possibility of contact between infected persons and those who are not. It's difficult to control this disease because of its long incubation period and a significant percentage of asymptomatic infections (some 30 percent) where a person becomes infectious before even showing any symptoms.”

When it comes to the mortality rate, it is 30 per 100,000 inhabitants, and over 74 percent are people over the age of 65. There are currently 312 coronavirus-positive patients in the hospital, 22 of whom are on respirators, Musa added.