"It would be wrong to close schools now"

"It would be wrong to close schools now"

Prime Minister Ana Brnabić says that schools are currently the safest places and that there are no plans to close them.

She told reporters at the elementary school "Kneginja Milica", where she attended the donation of the smart bench, that at this moment the biggest mistake would be to interrupt the work of schools and switch to online classes because, as she states, those educational institutions are working under the most controlled conditions.

She stated that in case one of the students is positive for coronavirus, there are measures for a specific class, shift and school.

She said that she will try to keep such a situation as long as possible, because there is not much sense in closing the school now, because that would be the wrong decision.

She also mentioned that everything is ready for a complete transition to online classes in case of need, and added that those classes have been going on continuously since September.

"We are the only country in Europe where students did not miss a single day of school in the previous school year, because when they were closed earlier, they immediately switched to online classes. Now we are even more ready for that, but for now there is no need because a full transition to online classes was the wrong decision. "

Brnabić said that children can serve as an example for us, because they respect preventive measures and warn the elderly to do the same.

The Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, said that the number of infected people in schools in October was 0.024 percent in relation to the absolute figures.

He said that the education system has shown a high degree of responsibility and the greatest resilience.

He stated that there is no need to think about alternative ways of teaching at this moment, that everything is ready for its application, but that he expects that there will be no need for that.

We do not intend to further tighten the measures, says Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and states that the amendments to the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases will introduce mandatory penalties for non-compliance with preventive measures and will improve inspection control.

Answering journalists' questions about the epidemiological situation, she said that it is becoming more complex and that this could have been expected, given that the number of infected with the coronavirus is increasing worldwide.

She stated that it is certain that today we will have more than 2.000 newly infected, of which, she adds, more than 1.000 in Belgrade.

She warned that without respecting the measures, we cannot keep the situation under control and stated that we cannot have so many inspectors who would control every violation of them.

That is why, she points out, everyone's discipline is important in respecting measures and empathy towards those who have already suffered from both COVID and other diseases.

"We are transforming hospital after hospital into the COVID system again. There is no sense in tightening the measures at a time when not everyone is adhering to them. We have to balance the economy and the epidemiological situation," Brnabic told reporters in front of the Kneginja Milica elementary school.

The economy, she says, serves to finance health care, additional tests and equipment, and salaries in health care will be increased.

The state, said the Prime Minister, has extraordinary costs for financing several days of treatment of patients in hospitals.

She announced that the amendments to the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases will be at the Government session tomorrow and again appealed to all citizens to wear masks and adhere to preventive measures in preventing the spread of coronavirus.