We're not even close to coming out of the pandemic. As much as we hoped that we are, we're not. We have not started the vaccination yet, nor do we know when we'll start. It is very important that our residents don't relax too much as warm weather comes, Edin Forto, the Sarajevo Canton Prime Minister, told N1 on Tuesday, adding that the authorities are not planning new lockdowns.

“A lockdown is done for two reasons; in order not to paralyze countries’ health systems. And the second reason is to gain collective immunity faster during the vaccination period. We're not planning a new lockdown, so we ask our citizens to beware. That is why we made some conclusions, we didn't tighten the measures,” he added.

Speaking about the reasons for the rise in Covid-19 cases in Canton Sarajevo, the Prime Minister said there are some researches that say evening gatherings at catering facilities are the biggest hotspots for infections.

“If we were to tighten the measures, we’d go in that direction. There are measures that would tighten the situation,” Forto noted.

“I think the citizens must find the strength to go through this together, to be patient, and to go through the collective immunization. People are still dying from Covid,” he added.

Balasevic fans acted irresponsibly

Speaking about the gatherings over the past several nights in Sarajevo over the death of late Djordje Balasevic, an iconic Yugoslav singer beloved by all generations, Forto said that was an irresponsible move.

“It is fascinating to me that people had gathered, had a mass gathering, to bid farewell to Balasevic, who died of complications caused by Covid-19. They violated the measures and thus endangered themselves and others. That is a level of irresponsibility. I would like the citizens to gather patience and strength because we can’t start with the collective immunization at this moment,” Forto concluded.