Residents of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and rest of the region where the city is located, the Federation (FBiH), will not be allowed to leave their homes from 11 pm to 5 am as of Wednesday due to the worsened epidemiological situation, competent authorities confirmed on Tuesday.

FBiH Health Ministry's top official, Goran Cerkez, said in a press conference that this region was entering a bad period of Covid-19 epidemic.

“The surge has continued in the 45th week. There are 17,329 active cases. The daily average is 970. A seven-day incidence is 325 per 100,000 population,” he stressed, adding that the surge has been present since the 41st week.

“What we see at this moment is that the new cases include all ages from the 41st week onward. We must protect the most vulnerable age groups and those with chronic diseases,” Cerkez said.

The number of fatalities increased by 33% compared to the last week, according to him.

Asked if the new measures mean Bosnia is entering a new lockdown, he replied that this was not a curfew but a measure to restrict the movement for all those without essential need to be outdoors.

“To avoid partying, clubbing, concerts, we have introduced a measure of restricted movement between 11 pm and 5 am,” he explained, adding that all those heading to and coming back from work will be allowed outside.

Bosnia recorded more than 1,600 new cases and 46 Covid deaths on Tuesday, a day after the worst daily log with 73 Covid-related fatalities confirmed.

The FBiH region reported 1,123 cases on Tuesday of 4,059 those tested, while Republika Srpska (RS) the other semi-autonomous part of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed 475 new patients out of 1,255 lab tests performed in the past 24 hours.