At a Government’s session on Tuesday, Health Minister Venko Filipche is to put forward a motion for a new set of measures to stem the spread of COVID-19.
These include that all economic operators close by 11 pm, that the capacity of public transport is half-full, ban on public events, and a recommendation that the work process in administration, municipalities, courts and wherever possible is conducted in shifts, rotations or from home.
The Parliament, on the other hand, will debate on previous set of measures recommended by the Commission for Infectious Diseases. Namely, a draft-law on amending the Law on protection of the population from communicable diseases in a fast-track procedure, including the recommendations of the Commission for mandatory wearing of face masks outdoors, as well as ban on family gatherings and groups of more than four in public areas after 10 pm.
“This is the only legal change that will make it possible for the Government to approve all these other measures without additional changes to the law. It requires a majority of 61 MPs. I don’t think that the whole process will take more than a few days. I believe the measures will enter into force by the week’s end,” Filipche said Monday.
He pointed out that the virus has spread everywhere, adding that the number of patients is on the rise and hospital capacities are filling up.
Filipche noted that there are still no patients in the modular hospital next to the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, but it is fully prepared in terms of both staffing and equipment.
“The entire staff in the September 8 hospital is working on this issue. Infectious diseases departments in Strumica, Kumanovo, Shtip, Prilep are already full, the Gostivar hospital is almost full, another department has opened in Bitola,” he added.
The Health Minister told citizens that the situation is very serious and the next step would be movement restrictions, i.e. curfew.
“Let’s all make the necessary efforts, because this is the only way,” said Filipche, noting that the region and Europe are facing the same challenge.
On Monday, the Health Ministry registered 161 new COVID-19 cases out of 771 tests done in the previous 24 hours. There were also 12 fatalities and 154 recovered patients.
Since the onset of the epidemic, North Macedonia has registered 23,788 confirmed coronavirus cases, while 17,392 patients have recovered. Death toll has reached 846.
At the moment, there are 5,550 active cases across the country, of which 2,674 are in the capital Skopje.
A total of 221,782 COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far in the country.
