Montenegro's health system is about to collapse, Foreign Minister Đorđe Radulović said in a letter to EU and NATO officials, calling for urgent help in the fight against coronavirus, media in the capital Podgorica reported on Wednesday.

At the same time, the country's health authorities decided to tighten epidemiological restrictions.

In his letter Radulović calls for doctors and other medical staff to be urgently deployed to Montenegro, the Pobjeda daily reported.

Montenegro asked for help as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in an attempt to try and put the epidemic under control, stressing that the deployment of doctors and medical staff was urgently needed.

Montenegro is currently one of the most affected countries in Europe, registering a high level of local transmission of coronavirus and a large number of hospitalised patients. Doctors and other medical staff are virtually at the end of their tether, warned Radulović, adding that the “situation is resulting in a large number of casualties.”

Health Minister Jelena Borovinić Bojović told the RTCG national broadcaster on Wednesday that the situation was difficult but that the “health system is not about to collapse,” as claimed by Radulović.

“The system is significantly burdened and the appeal was intended to seek help to maintain it. At the moment we don't have a shortage of doctors or other staff,” said Borovinić Bojović, underscoring that the employment service had arranged the employment of 230 nurses and five doctors.

Epidemiological measures ramped up

Health authorities decided on Wednesday to close all educational facilities and introduce online classes. All hospitality facilities are to close and a curfew will be in force from 9 pm to 5 am. There is a ban on leaving one's place of residence.

All shopping malls, betting shops and children's playgrounds are to be closed too.

Montenegro is currently one of the 10 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities per 100,000 population.

The country has for weeks been registering more than 500 new infections a day, which is almost 0.1% of the population. There are currently 9,000 active coronavirus cases in the country or 1.5% of the population and there have been 1,100 coronavirus-related deaths.

Vaccination started with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine after Serbia donated 2,000 doses. Another 10,000 doses of the Russian vaccine, procured by the country's government, have arrived since as have 30,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China.

Montenegro is running late with inoculation, which is also due to a change of government. The new government has agreed the purchase of 50,000 doses of the Russian vaccine and negotiations are underway for another 200,000 doses.

The former government applied to buy the vaccine through the COVAX mechanism, however, it did not submit the necessary guarantees on time.