The current epidemiological situation requires the adoption of at least a minimum of measures such as the mandatory wearing of masks in enclosed spaces, in public transportation and especially in health-care facilities, lung disease specialist Dr. Slavica Plavsic told N1.

“The pandemic is not over anywhere in the world, including Serbia, we had a calm period of two-three months with a very small number of newly infected, hospitalized and deceased people. Unfortunately, we are witnesses that the numbers of newly infected, even hospitalized and deceased people are increasing in many European countries. The number of newly infected people in Serbia is increasing on a daily basis so we can say that the seventh wave of coronavirus started at the beginning of this month,” said Plavsic who is a member of the United Against COVID organization,

She said she expects the number of daily Covid infections to exceed 1,000 in the next seven days, and added that the epidemiological situation can be expected to worsen in fall when people return to work and students to schools and when everyone starts spending more time indoors because of weather conditions.

Plavsic said she was not expecting any kind of reaction from the health authorities because “no one is managing the epidemic and the laws are not honored”.

“The government is in a technical mandate, the health minister has not been making public appearances for a while now, the Crisis Staff expects to be dissolved, and the Commission for the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, which should have managed the epidemic from the very start, has been marginalized. Batut (Public Health Institute), the Medical Chamber and other health institutions are silent… All we can do is hope the virus will lose its virulence with new mutations, to get vaccinated and to behave responsibly,” said Plavsic.