Dr Kisic Tepavcevic explains why there's been an increase in the number of infected

Dr Kisic Tepavcevic explains why there's been an increase in the number of infected

That happened in the furniture factory "Dodic" in Vranje, Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia, Darja Kisic Tepavcevic stated.

She pointed out that it is a newly identified hotspot and that there are no other major hotspots in Serbia.

In the Jura factory, the spread of the virus has stopped and we hope that there will be no other pop-ups, Dr Kisic stated being hosted on TV Pink.

She added that it shows how quickly the virus can spread when it enters the collective, and that most patients in the factory in Vranje have mild symptoms or no symptoms of the disease.

"It shows the strength of the virus, and it is obvious that the infection will now be with milder forms of the disease," Dr Kisic said.

She added that the decision was made that all workers of the company "Dodic" in Vranje be tested and that as of yesterday, 42 positive for the coronavirus were registered among the employees and 11 other people who were in contact with them.

She pointed out that results are expected for more than 100 employees.

It is possible that the number will be even higher, and most of them have no symptoms and were discovered during the epidemic surveillance and the search for asymptomatic cases, she added.

Out of 53 positive for coronavirus, five have symptoms of pneumonia, but they do not have a severe clinical picture, and the rest have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, Kisic Tepavcevic pointed out.

"Based on yesterday's indicators, it can be seen that the number of patients is twice as high, but not because of the spread in the general population, but in one collective. The epidemiological picture would be different when it is all over Serbia, and different when it is in one collective where the reservoir of spread is and those are two different epidemiological situations", Dr Kisic explained.

She pointed out that the introduction into the collective and spread could have been prevented and that this is an indicator of how quickly the virus can spread indoors.

Any unprotected contact longer than 15 minutes is enough to transmit a sufficient amount of the causative agent, which shows that prevention measures have not been implemented, Kisic added.

She said that it is important to wear masks indoors and that active surveillance is still being done to detect asymptomatic cases.

She said that she hopes that the collective immunity will be stronger by the fall and that it will then be known what the immunity is by age groups.

She stated that if the virus does not change completely, a situation like the one in early March can never happen again.

Asked about the summer vacation, she said that it was an individual assessment, but that there would be no travel ban.

"We don't know what the situation will be like in two months because it changes from day to day. We have recommended several times to stay and spend the holidays in Serbia, but there will be no travel bans and everyone should assess their own risk," she concluded.