"I'm sorry, this won't do; COVID passes to be extended to 24 hours"

"I'm sorry, this won't do; COVID passes to be extended to 24 hours"

As he pointed out, the Crisis Staff advocated at the session, and still advocates that they be introduced in catering facilities within 24 hours.

"I said that at the Crisis Staff as well. I'm sorry, but this will not be enough. We will not succeed with such measures. Now the minimum minimum has been accepted, i.e. they should be from 10 p.m. The medical part of the Crisis Staff also asked for 10 days the working hours of all facilities to be shortened, except for pharmacies, markets and gas stations. If we are talking about what has an effect, then 24 hours is the first and foremost and that is the first thing we will insist on".

As he says, another measure that the medical part of the Crisis Staff will continue to propose is taking a "break" of 10 days and shortened working hours of all non-essential facilities.

"The situation is very unfavorable at the moment. We even had a 10 percent increase in the number of infected compared to the previous week. To be clear, this is the sixth week with over 6.000 daily illnesses on average - it has never been before. At the same time, new COVID facilities are being used, and in addition we have a situation where there are no beds in the hospitals. Therefore, we have no more space, except for patients to be discharged earlier and measures to be tightened. The only solution is vaccination. We are crying out for it but it's not on a satisfactory level". When making decisions at the sessions of the Crisis Staff, one thinks in several directions - about the mental state of the nation, economic and purely health aspect.

However, the previous proposals of the medics sitting in the Crisis Staff were too harsh to be accepted. After all, he does not lose hope when it comes to passes.

"I expect the implementation of COVID passes to be extended to 24 hours, and at the same time to influence vaccination. No interruptions, severe measures unless there is an increase in vaccination", Kon concluded. Kon also referred to the question of schools, considering that the legitimate question is whether students will switch to the online model of teaching.

"The combined model reduces the number of children in the class, so something is being done. However, the fact that the child is on a respirator is such that we have to take matters into our own hands. Infection is transmitted from families to schools, but it also happens that from school it comes to families. My opinion is that it is not enough just to go to online classes, it is necessary that the minimum be 24 hours COVID passes".

The epidemiologist shared the fact that there are a total of 10.000 vaccinated children in Serbia. "Between the ages of 16 and 17, the percentage of vaccinated has increased slightly. The low vaccination rate, when you have a vaccination permit at that age, is astonishing, and the data on how many are vaccinated is startling. It doesn't seem to be enough awareness about that yet and we should work on it".

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