More than 1.900 newly infected, 21 people died

More than 1.900 newly infected, 21 people died

There are 89 patients on the respirator, while 2.133 were hospitalized.

10.888 people were tested.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, 7.261.237 have been tested, 1.302.856 have been positive, and 12.760 have died, while the mortality rate is 0.98 percent.

Sekler: There is a possibility of a new strain

Virologist Dr Milanko Sekler was hosted on TV Prva this morning, where he said that we should not be surprised if the number of newly infected with the coronavirus jumps sharply.

As he said, it will be a consequence of holidays and gatherings. Sekler told the morning program of TV Prva that he did not want to comment on the footage of the New Year's Eve in cities in Serbia and that he talked enough about it before the holidays, but reminded that the ban on gathering more than 500 people in the open has been in force since June last year.

When asked about the explanation of the political part of the Crisis Staff that there is a relatively small number of new patients in Serbia, while the situation is different in Europe, Sekler ironically commented that everyone in Europe was "stupid" and that we saw a chance to provide Europe "what she herself does not want".

"Because we do not have a pandemic, viruses and an increase in the number of newly infected," Sekler commented ironically.

He stated that the omicron strain cannot be considered dominant in Serbia and that there is no evidence for that, but that he expects a jump in newly infected delta strains which, as he says, are more dangerous and cause more severe clinical pictures than omicron.

"In the United States and Great Britain, they thought that Omicron had taken over the delta. However, data are now being published that the percentage of omicron participation in the number of newly infected is decreasing and that it is now approximately the same. I think that the delta strain still prevails in our country", said Sekler.

Speaking about the experiences of other countries, where omicron is dominant, Sekler said that South Africa is the only country where omicron has completely taken over the primacy over the delta strain and that it has been shown to cause milder clinical pictures and lower mortality.