Coronavirus: in Serbia, figures for contaminations very undervalued

A Serbian customs officer checks the identity of travelers at the Batrovci crossing on the border with Serbia and Croatia on March 15, 2020. Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

The revelations are explosive: Serbia has hidden almost two thirds of the deaths due to the Covid-19 since the middle of March. Since June 1, the country would be faced with a second wave of contamination at least as large as that of March-April.

Publicity

Read more

With our correspondent in Belgrade, Jean-Arnault Dérens

Between March 19 and June 1, 632 people who tested positive for coronavirus died in Serbia, almost three times more than the 244 deaths reported by the authorities. These data were revealed by the BIRN investigation site, by cross-checking the figures communicated by the various hospitals of the country, available on the official site covid-19.rs.

Even more serious: between June 17 and 20, the country counted 300 new contaminations per day, much more than the hundred announced by the government. It is at least as much as at the end of March. Since May 10, Serbia has been engaged in a very rapid deconfinement , and sanitary measures are not respected. On June 9, a football match brought together nearly 16,000 people in Belgrade and seems to have served as a cluster.

Unable to get a test in recent days

The authorities have obviously done everything to minimize this "  second wave  ", so as not to jeopardize the legislative elections on Sunday, largely won by the ruling party . At the hospital in Nis, in the south of the country, it was therefore impossible to obtain a test in recent days. While the epidemiological situation is also exploding in neighboring countries , especially in North Macedonia and Kosovo, the health security council of Serbia is due to meet on Tuesday. It should decide on new measures, even if the hypothesis of a new containment would be excluded.

► Read also: Headlines: the Balkan economies hit hard by the coronavirus

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Coronavirus
  • Serbia

On the same subject

Aleksandar Vucic's ruling party wins legislative elections in Serbia

BALKANS PRESS REVIEW

What's new: has the second wave of Covid-19 already started in the Balkans?

Balkan press review

In the News: Covid-19, the Balkans begin deconfinement