Until 4.00 pm, six new patients have been diagnosed with coronavirus in our country, making a total of 48 people infected with the coronavirus.
In Stip the virus has been diagnosed for the first time in a four-year-old girl, who was infected in kindergarten in England. The girl together with her mother are placed in the infectious unit, and the epidemiological survey is being extended and additional tests will be made for people who are thought to have to be tested.
In Debar, 3 new cases of coronavirus have been registered, all selected with the broader indication – testing that is performed within the framework of the screening that began in that region several days ago.
In Skopje, 1 case has been registered, a person who had been in contact with one of the previously diagnosed cases in the past two days, and mapped with the epidemiological survey of the patient.
A case of coronavirus has also been confirmed in Gostivar. It concerns a woman who has returned from Switzerland. After arriving, according to the epidemiological survey, she was in home-isolation. She came to be tested alone and indicated that she had been in contact with an infected person in Switzerland. Currently, 35 persons are being tested and once the results are ready the public will be informed.
All patients are stable, with an unchanged clinical picture, both in the Clinic of Infectious Diseases and in Debar. The patient who is on a ventilator is with stable vital parameters and there are no signs of her health condition being worsened.
Today all patients who are in home treatment have been visited. They have been informed on how they should act – both on the manner of self-isolation and on the course of treatment, and a direct communication has been established between them and the doctors in the Infectious Disease Clinic.
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Minister of Health today made a plan to also put the City General Hospital “September 8” in the function of treating coronavirus patients.
It concerns a plan for special points within the framework of the Health Center in Skopje that should start at the beginning of next week, whereas the Ministry will inform on the principle of its functioning after the plan has been determined.
Tomorrow in Debar another pulmonologist and paediatrician will be sent, as there are people from the health sector, health care workers who are carrying the virus.
Today the Main Crisis Headquarters in the Government also convened – discussing several issues regarding Debar. Additional quantities of consumables will be sent tomorrow.
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The musicians from Bitola who have been held in quarantine in Demir Kapija, tomorrow the latest, will have the results of the tests, after which they will be in self-isolation, informed today Minister of Health Venko Filipce, who also replied to speculations that they are the only ones who have been kept in quarantine, that they are the first of the announced big group who are to enter the country.
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Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski yesterday on Telma Television announced that there will be new measures for all those who will violate self-isolation. Collective centers for isolation have been prepared, and anyone violating self-isolation will immediately be transferred to such a center.
-The capacities of the police and of the ARM have been fully put into operation. Based on this, a separate plan will be prepared and the resources to be used to the maximum. There are indeed problems with certain individuals in self-isolation. That is why we are now preparing one such measure.
He confirmed that he is aware of the fact that increasingly more cases are being discovered of people not adhering to self-isolation and quarantine despite patrol checks.
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Xhaferi: Having in consideration that a state of emergency has been declared, the general conclusion is that there are no preconditions for holding elections. The possibility of organizing elections in such extraordinary conditions must be considered, to provide continuity of things. This is a topic that should be deliberated by all experts, but the expertise not to be shared on Facebook, rather to organize electronic forums, stated the President of Parliament, Talat Xhaferi.
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In conditions of increasing problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, observers of freedom of expression and freedom of the media for the United Nations (UN), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (ACHR) and the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), today came out with a joint press release.
In the statement it is said that they are seriously concerned about people everywhere facing the COVID-19 pandemic. “At a moment of such seriousness, we fully understand and support the efforts of health care workers and governments for development and implementation of strategies for protection of human health and human life. The fundamental and inalienable right to life is questioned, and governments are obliged to ensure its protection”, is said in the press release by foreign experts David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Harlem Desir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur of ACHR for Freedom of Expression.
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The Government of Macedonia yesterday sent a letter to the European Commission requesting assistance for alleviating the crisis, which is expected to worsen in the following days. The Government expresses gratification that the European Union is mobilizing in solidarity and hopes that the same approach can be adopted also towards candidate countries.
The European Union has been a target of strong criticism in these past days for not including the Western Balkan countries in the measures for assistance.
North Macedonia may also suffer due to the decision of some EU member states to ban export of necessary equipment to third countries. The European Commission supports this EU measure and pointed out that third countries will have to receive special permits if they are to request import of equipment from a country of the Union.
In this context, the Government of North Macedonia requests from the European Commission to revise this decision and to remove the country from the group of countries for which special authorizations are needed.
In the European Commission they are unofficially commenting that the situation is difficult also in the EU, but that they are aware that they need to respond to the needs for humanitarian aid and civil protection, here the EU also includes the issue of repatriation of citizens of North Macedonia stuck outside the country.
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The exchange rate of the Denar remains stable and there will be no changes, stated the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska-Bezhovska, after the session of the Committee for Financial Stability.
She added that the central bank disposes with a series of instruments that guarantee the stability of the Deanr, and yesterday, at the press conference on the economic measures, pointed out that the foreign exchange reserves that are key for the exchange rate of the domestic currency are kept at a high level, which is twice higher than the level before the global economic crisis in 2008.
– The savings of citizens in the banks and savings banks are safe and secure. The deposits and all other services that these financial institutions offer continue to be available as before, says the Governor of the National Bank.
Diana Tahiri
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
