Crisis Headquarters Calls on Serbian Citizens to Return to Serbia by Sept. 18

Kisic Tepavcevic

Serbian COVID-19 Crisis Headquarters issued a statement on Sept. 14 urging all Serbian citizens who are currently abroad, especially in regional countries, to return to Serbia by 6 p.m. on Sep. 18, when new preventive measures for all returnees will come into force.

Following the response team’s latest meeting, Dr. Darija Kisic Tepavcevic, the deputy director of the Batut Public Health Institute, said that the majority of Europe had noted in the past week a record rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

“We’re calling on all citizens to return [as soon as possible] because at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 18, we’re introducing [a 10 day] monitoring for all travelers coming from high-risk countries to Serbia,” she said, adding that additional measures will be specified in the coming days and then communicated to the public.

Kisic Tepavcevic recalled that, according to the latest recommendations of the leading health organizations, a 10-day quarantine after a person returns from a country with unfavorable epidemiological situation is enough to stop the disease from spreading.

“We’re not talking about quarantine or self-isolation, but about monitoring which will entail certain measures and activities whose purpose is to curb the spread of the virus and it being imported from abroad,” she added.