Lockdown measures in Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) entity will remain in force over the next seven days, but the economy and kindergartens will not be closed, Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodiksaid Sunday following the meeting with the entity majority.

“I think that the epidemic situation should be taken seriously and the measures of the RS Staff should be respective, this is the only way we can prevent the spread of the virus,” he said, adding:

“This has been done to prevent the enormous pressure on the medical sector. The spread of the epidemic is a big problem. My appeal to the citizens is to respect the measures so that we can see what the situation will be in seven days.“
“The lockdown will last for seven days to see if the number of infected people is decreasing. There is a large number of infected in Banja Luka. We will monitor the parameters and if we see that the situation is getting better, we will see to return and open some facilities. If things do not go as we expect, then we will extend the measures,” Dodik noted.

Suzana Gasic, the RS Trade and Tourism Minister then explained what the will consist of:

“The government banned the work of catering facilities serving food and drink, performing service and craft activities where direct contact is unavoidable. Also, swimming pools, spa and wellness centres, work in shopping malls, work for organizers of games of chance, except for internet games and work of cultural institutions is halted. All measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the infection. These are places where more people can gather for an extended period of time.”

“As for the ban on wholesale and retail stores, the ban refers to shopping centres due to the large concentration of people in one place. The measures will last for seven days,” she added.