Epidemiologist: Anti-Epidemic Measures Well Thought-Through, Their Implementation Deficient

Zoran Radovanovic epidemiologist (printscreen: YouTube/N1)

Epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic said on April 23 that the measures the Serbian government has introduced to fight the spread of COVID-19 are well thought-through but that their implementation was deficient.

"The system’s faults have clearly surfaced. Despite the officials’ claims, the borders were left without control for a long time, and there was no one to give those entering the country printed instructions to contact competent public health institutions. Preventive quarantines for those suspected of infection have in certain places turned into contagion hotbeds", the expert told the April 23 issue of the Nedeljnik weekly.

He added that Serbia is not doing that well in the fight against the epidemic and that looking at the numbers and infection rates, it has fared worse than the rest of the former Yugoslavia countries.

Radovanovic added that neither the tourists nor Serbian citizens who had returned home at the epidemic onset are to blame for the situation in the country, pointing out that other Balkan countries also had returnees from abroad.

According to him, the second wave of infection can be expected in late autumn at the earliest, “providing the restrictions are lifted wisely and gradually.”