"We are in a difficult situation"

"We are in a difficult situation"

He adds that hospitals are still overcrowded, but that there is enough capacities to take care of all patients with the coronavirus during the weekend.

"I believe that there will be no reason to move patients from Belgrade to the interior and vice versa. All hospitals have enough space to receive new patients, because more patients are discharged than are admitted," Pelemis said.

He told reporters, after the meeting of the Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar with the directors of COVID hospitals, that the number of infected patients in Serbia is at a high but stable level and that it is not yet time to say that we are in a favorable situation.

"We are in a difficult but stable situation. We insist that prevention measures continue to be strictly implemented, and those are wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, washing hands. That is the only thing that can stop the infection," he said.

He reminds that there is no cure for the coronavirus and that the vaccine is still in the testing phase, and that there is no place to relax and for someone to think that the virus has been defeated.

"No one has beaten this virus. Maybe the vaccine will beat it," he said.

He notes that in this period, the number of elderly patients has increased and that what the doctors warned about is happening.

"We warned that young people would be infected, who would then transmit the infection to the elderly who were being cared for. This is a consequence of socializing and disrespecting prevention measures," he said.

He states that there will be more and more serious patients in hospitals.

"While there are a lot of patients in intensive care in hospitals and on a respirator, Serbia will not be in a favorable situation," Pelemis emphasized.

Asked how the coronavirus is not destroyed by high temperatures and UV radiation, he said that the virus is completely new, that through clinical practice it was usually the rule that high temperatures kill the virus.

"However, everyone forgets about enteroviruses, popularly known as stomach viruses. They appear in the summer months, so this is not the only virus that survives at high temperatures," he concluded.

It takes a long time for the most difficult patients to recover

The recovery of the most severe patients with COVID 19 takes a long time, says the director of the Center for Anesthesia and Resuscitation KCS, prof. Nebojsa Ladjevic, adding that there must be no relaxation.

"We will be with patients in intensive care for a long time, because the recovery of patients takes a long time. That is why there must be no relaxation," he said.

After the meeting of the Minister of Health, Ladjevic told reporters that there is no cure or vaccine for the coronavirus, and that wearing masks and maintaining distance between people is the only protection at this moment.

"If we who work with the most difficult patients in intensive care can protect ourselves with masks and gloves, so can the citizens," he emphasized.

Compared to March, when mostly elderly patients were in intensive care, the younger population is now among the most difficult patients.

Ladjevic says that this was expected because in the first wave, faculties and schools did not work, and that now the circulation of the population is higher and younger people are becoming more infected.

"Younger people can go through with a milder clinical picture, but they don't have to. If they go through with a milder clinical picture, irresponsible behavior or misunderstanding of the situation can cause great damage to the older ones, their loved ones," he concluded.