According to the latest information, the Chinese vaccines are set to depart from Beijing to Istanbul on Wednesday (April 28), and from Istanbul to Belgrade on Friday (April 30), and then to Skopje using special cold-chain transport on Friday evening or early on Saturday (May 1), said Health Minister Venko Filipche on Tuesday.

Minister Filipche told reporters that the vaccines would be distributed to all vaccination sites across the country on the following day, so that the mass vaccination process begins immediately after the Easter holidays, next Tuesday.

Filipche said about 53,000 citizens have been vaccinated thus far. He added that yesterday’s meeting with religious leaders focused on the appeals to citizens for adherence to the preventive measures.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said the measures proposed by the Commission for Infectious Diseases have been timely, urging citizens to observe them, so that religion and tradition could be reaffirmed during the Easter and Ramadan holidays without allowing numbers to rise again.