When will the epidemic in Serbia reach its culmination?

When will the epidemic in Serbia reach its culmination?

"Novosti" states that it is outrageous to bid on which day most people will be ill, as every effort has been made to slow down the spread of the virus by introducing a state of emergency and curfew.

"No one can tell at this time whether the peak will be now for the weekend or any other day," Professor Zarko Rankovic, an infectologist and chief coordinator for the implementation of anti-coronavirus measures in Nis, stated.

However, epidemiologist Predrag Kon, head of the infectious disease unit at the Belgrade Institute of Public Health in Belgrade, says "we have taken a series of interventions and introduced a state of emergency to slow down the onset of the virus that has started."

"That Easter falls in the sixth week of the epidemic. It may actually be the largest number of patients then. We'll see how the seasons change will work. We are now finishing the second week of the epidemic and have done everything to slow down the spread of the virus. It remains to be seen how much the number of patients will be increasing and how many will be infected. No one can say that now", Dr. Kon stated, adding that experts remain to closely monitor the situation.

He added that he believes that all the measures introduced so far by the Serbian government will produce results.

"We will also adapt to sitting at home because life is stronger than anything," he said. Pulmonologist Dr. Tatjana Radosavljevic believes that each epidemic has its natural course.

"According to Chinese experience, we expect the peak in ten days. And this has nothing to do with Easter or any other holiday, but with the natural course of the epidemic. The so-called horizontal spread of the virus among the local population has started, and if we manage to keep these measures growing, the patients will be at current or slightly higher levels, we will not have an explosion of covid-19 as it was in Italy. We will have a chance to go through with a controlled epidemic. It is important for each of us to be personally responsible and to listen to the experts' recommendations", she said.

So far, 97 cases of coronavirus have been registered in Serbia, and the first case was reported on March 6.