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Our country registers more and more people infected with the corona virus. We kept the daily statistics on new infection cases during September in double digits, which seems to have relaxed us, and since October, Covid-19 has broken out again in Serbia.
The bad statistics are compounded by the fact that in recent days, three cities have registered the highest number of infected.
Have we forgotten why this virus is dangerous or people have become too relaxed, how much is due to personal irresponsibility and how much to competent inspections? “Blic” investigated how the critical points in Belgrade, Valjevo and Kragujevac were reignited.
Belgrade: full clubs, full of GSP
As expected or not, the Serbian capital has been the biggest hotspot for weeks, recording more than half of the total number of newly infected. How did the idea come about?
Public transport is marked as one of the places with the highest risk of contagion, but it seems that in September we forgot about the obligation to wear masks in transport, enter through the front door and sit in the prescribed places. Not even wearing masks in stores has become a surprise, not to mention keeping your distance. Although the authorities point out that the situation in schools is under control, the truth is that the return of students to banks, as well as students to universities, contributed to a certain percentage of the increase in contagion. Of course, there are youth gatherings and parties, both private and in cafes and discos. This is where we come to the biggest corona bomb.
Truth be told, at the end of September it was colder, the cafe gardens were not working and most were sitting inside the bar, you guessed it, without a mask. It went on like this day after day, night after night, and Belgrade’s crowded clubs were bustling with activity from bustle to dawn.
As the epidemiological situation began to worsen, crisis personnel prohibited local governments from issuing “special permits” for the organization of celebrations, while in Belgrade, as in a parallel universe, nightlife developed as if it were not no rule will apply. And so, on Wednesday, we reached a record 512 new infected people in Serbia, of which 240 cases are from the capital.
At the same time, we cannot turn a blind eye to the images of Belgrade’s crowded nightclubs at the weekend.
According to the current Law for the Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases, only the sanitary inspectors of the republic can impose fines. Believe it or not, only four of them participated in the control actions in Belgrade in the previous two and a half months! Also under control were 18 tourist, environmental and community inspectors, who can impose sanctions only for non-compliance with working hours, noise … Amendments to the law must be approved by the Assembly in the first regular session.
Valjevo – after closing, parties at the pump
Valjevo, the Serbian Spring Vuhan, rested in the current wave of the epidemic until the first week of October. Then, unfortunately, the prediction of the state crisis staff member Dr. Predrag Kon came true that, together with Belgrade and Kragujevac, the city of Kolubara will become a new focus of attention.
Because only since October 8, according to data from the local Public Health Institute, 132 new infected have been registered and 15 positives have ended up in hospital treatment. The sudden increase in the number of patients, explained the Institute, is related to the group of patients of a private celebration in the vicinity of Valjevo, where there were about 60 guests, double the number allowed. Of these, 60 were confirmed in 25 participants. Furthermore, the crown spread from a small group, a shop where eight infected people were found, and then four members of a family became infected by contact with a proven source of infection, a relative from Belgrade who visited them.
– The inspections should have reacted, but I don’t know if they did. Our job is to monitor and isolate contacts. What I see as a citizen is that there are violations, as everywhere in Serbia: Dr. Marija Gavrilović, director of the Institute, answered the question about the control of these celebrations.
The confirmed response that there were celebrations with more than 30 gathered was given by the mayor and the commander of the Emergency Situations Headquarters, Lazar Gojković.
– I ordered all the inspections to raise the level of work and routes of all the catering facilities, as well as possible facilities and rooms that are used for celebrations and gatherings of a greater number of people. You can see for yourself that these meetings and celebrations are not good in this situation – says the mayor.
Indeed, according to the report presented to the Emergency Situations Headquarters, the traffic, education, community and tourist inspection, as well as the communal militia from September 17 to October 14, controlled the catering facilities, taxis and buses, preschools and schools, and concluded that there were no violated measures. The only celebrations controlled were after the report, and the inspections indicated the following: “When visiting these facilities at 11 pm, they found that they were closed and that there were no more guests.” There are no reports on all the other celebrations, and it is indisputable that there were weddings, baptisms and private celebrations of adulthood in the citizens’ yards, because the inspections did not even control them!
Although the Valjevo Emergency Situations Headquarters concluded on September 17 that the demonstrations should be postponed, to the extent that they were respected, two cases are illustrative. On the same day, a rostrum with more than 50 participants was organized at the door of the Valjevo church. Finally, the “champion example” of how epidemiological measures are not respected is the scene at the gas station in the center of Valjevo, where a large group of young people without masks gathered to buy drinks, and then the procession, well after 11 of the night, continued in a park near the Center of culture!
Kragujevac – Masks are not modern and young people do not like them
The director of the Kragujevac Clinical Center, Dr. Predrag Sazdanović, drew much attention with his warning to the public that we are facing an apocalyptic situation due to the corona virus if not all adhere to the protection measures urgently. According to him, in Kragujevac, the number of examinations in the ambulance approached the number in July, when the situation was difficult.
We tried to find out on the spot what caused Kragujevac to climb back up into the thankless hotbed of the infection. The real situation is that people on the street still do not massively respect protection measures. Indifferent behavior stops only at the entrance of an institution or store, because without a mask, they cannot step there. In parks, playgrounds, on benches you feel without distance.
Vasilije Antić, director of the Health Center in Kragujevac, tells “Blic” that the number of patients at the kovid clinic has increased over the last week.
– Until recently we had 140 exams a day, but this week we have 220. The situation is such that the number of infected is increasing and it is worrying. According to the population, for every 100,000 inhabitants the hospital has a capacity for 20 infected. The prognosis is that there will be a peak in the next 15 days and there will be many infected people. This summer we had a crown for many parties, weddings … Now there is a great risk because of the closed spaces, because of the cold. Vectors are also older, and it is difficult to know where they were infected. Again, the problem is the meetings, and the novelty is that the virus is transmitted at work, not just at celebrations. Unfortunately now it is a shame to wear a mask in cafes. All meetings must be with masks, at breaks and on the street. Statistics show that of every 100 infected, 20 are for the hospital and two percent of them will die, says Antić.
Ivana Georgijevski, an economist, says she did not know that Kragujevac is a hotbed, but also that it is not difficult to follow the rules.
– I always wear masks indoors, but not outdoors. It’s not difficult and has become part of everyday life, says Ivana.
The epidemiologist Predrag Delic tells “Blic” that the situation is under control, but that the reason for the spread of the infection is “contact with people already positive.”
– Failure to comply with the basic measures that have been in force for seven months have caused the spread of the virus. Wearing masks, disinfecting spaces and work surfaces, but distance is the most important. The number of infected in relation to the number of examined is 12 to 18 percent, which is a large number. The epidemiological situation in the environment is such that we cannot be exempt from it – says Predrag Delic.
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