Bosnian authorities have made some absurd decisions in combating the coronavirus pandemic, infectologist, head of the COVID department Ednan Drljevic and Chief physician dr. Dragan Stevanovic of the General Hospital in Sarajevo, director of the Tuzla Clinical Center Vahid Jusufovic and chief infectologist of the Charite Berlin Clinical Centre, the largest hospital in Europe, Andrej Trampuz told N1’s Amir Zukic on Wednesday evening.

“We in Bosnia have had a crazy misfortune to be struck by the pandemic, needing deliberate reaction at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina has of the two worst governments, the Council of Ministers (at the state level) and the Federation (FBiH) entity Government,” Stevanovic said adding that no one will be responsible for the current situation because “they’re allowed to do everything.”

Arguing the claim that partial solutions are not good, he presented the example that one part of Sarajevo will close all malls and cafes during the weekend, while the part of the city which belongs to the Republika Srpska (RS) entity will keep everything open.

“And what’s that going to achieve? The infection will spread in that part of the city in two weeks if we can call it part of Sarajevo at all. We lack a unified approach at the state level,” Stevanovic pointed out.

Namely, the authorities in the Sarajevo Canton announced a partial lockdown of all places where citizens tend to spend longer time, such as cafes, restaurants, gyms, dental offices while allowing only grocery stores to remain open. Authorities from the RS’ Istocno Sarajevo, which borders Sarajevo, said they have no plans for any kind of restriction.

Infectologist Edin Drljevic agreed with Stevanovic.

“The problem is at both the state and FBiH level. I don't even know what the FBiH Health Minister looks like. You can’t close the ski resort on Bjelasnica (FBiH), because everyone will go to Jahorina (RS). That is absurd from the state level. In our profession, there is no canton, district, or local community. We’re talking about the principle of connected vessels, here. What is happening in Sarajevo will spill over to all parts of Bosnia,” he said.

According to dr. Jusufovic from the Tuzla Clinical Centre, the coronavirus has long ceased to be just a medical issue.
“The coronavirus has long ceased to be a medical issue, it gained economic and political connotations in the middle of last year. There is a disparity in the opinion of the medical and non-medical part of the Crisis Staff. Introducing restrictive measures and not covering the entire of the country is meaningless because the virus knows no borders,” he said.

Live from Berlin, dr. Trampuz said that Germany did not make the mistake of opening up completely, adding that it is a good thing that the authorities are giving our masks and Covid tests for free.

“Now that we have the new strains, we should tighten the measures. If new strains spread 30 percent faster, they must also close 30 percent more. Any infection that occurs can lead to severe consequences and deaths because we still do not have a cure for the coronavirus. Until we vaccinate 60-70 percent of the population, we have to go with the lockdown,” Trampuz told N1.

Speaking about “the best” vaccine, he said that any vaccine is better than the virus.

“Which one’s the best? They’re all better than the virus. Maybe the new vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are somewhat better, but all vaccines protect from severe cases and deaths,” the Berlin expert said.

But speaking about the lockdown, he said it would be a mistake to close everything. In his opinion, restaurants should be closed and working conditions should be adapted so that people do not sit together in closed spaces, but people should be allowed to move in the open while respecting the distancing measures.