Health Minister Venko Filipche reiterated on Friday that there’s no need to implement additional restrictive measures in North Macedonia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said at the opening of a modular hospital in Prilep that there’s no sign of risk of cases rapidly rising which would lead to additional restrictions.

However, the Minister warned, the health system is under unprecedented pressure. North Macedonia is experiencing the peak of the strongest virus wave yet, same as the rest of world.

Filipche called on citizens to continue to abide by measures, adding that the current situation is exceptionally risky and critical.

“We’ve enforced balance measures. That means we’ve restricted the movement of young people gathering late at night and not abiding by preventive measures. Restrictions are in force and respected everywhere. Problems arise when people don’t abide by preventive measures,” Health Minsiter Filipche said.

According to him, when it comes to implementing additional restrictions, North Macedonia would follow the example of other countries.

“We saw that harsher restrictions didn’t produce results. On the contrary, countries faced stronger virus waves than we’re doing now. Local transmission plays a huge role. If we look at the result of our recommendations we’ll notice that there’s no exponential rise in new cases, which would put immense pressure on hospitals that we would not be able to handle. Every patient is being treated, even with current numbers of some 1,200 cases, which means they’re at a plateau,” he told reporters.

Filipche stressed that rapid reshuffle of hospital workers helped soften the blow of COVID-19.

“No patient has been left without proper hospital treatment. Every hospital is making plans on a daily level, as well as mid-term, over which units to reshuffle if the number of patients begins to climb,” the Minister underlined.