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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia effective in fighting pandemic

Belgrade, 28 April 2020

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said in her address today to the first session of the Serbian Parliament during the state of emergency that our country has the lowest coronavirus mortality rate compared to the countries in this part of Europe, with the rate of 1.9 percent.

Brnabic said at the session, which began with a minute of silence to pay tribute to all citizens who died of coronavirus, that Serbia ranks third by the number of tests performed per 100,000 inhabitants, and expressed her expectation that we will get to the second place as soon as today.

Today, when we are on the downward trajectory of the epidemic, we see that the rate of positive cases is around 5.8 percent over the total number tested. And although we still cannot declare victory, we have a reason to believe that we will be able to do it if we retain discipline and crisis management, the Prime Minister stressed.

She emphasised that the health system in Serbia has endured, stating that it has the capacity to accommodate all infected, it has medical teams, ventilators and medicines, so we did not have to choose whose life to save.

According to her, the lives of the oldest citizens were largely preserved, which was one of the goals in this fight, while the other was to preserve the health system.

We have fought with heart and knowledge for the lives of citizens, with the tremendous help of partners from China to whom we will be eternally grateful, as well as to partners from the EU, who themselves have dealt with the pandemic and huge human casualties, and also to partners from Russia, USA, UAE , Norway, Hungary, said Brnabic.

She reiterated that she is proud of her country and how Serbia has dealt with the pandemic, as well as where we are today and how prepared we are for everything that comes after the pandemic.

I am proud of our citizens, institutions, the joint team of the government and the President of the Republic, all our experts, doctors and medical staff, as well as everyone who was on the front line. To them goes the greatest gratitude on behalf of the entire government, said the Prime Minister.

Brnabic recalled that the first identified case of coronavirus in Serbia was recorded on 6 March and it was imported from Italy, stating that 58 people who had symptoms like COVID-19 had been tested before.

Testing, she recalled, began on 13 February, when the first suspected case appeared and all tested were negative, with the first death being recorded on 20 March.

The Prime Minister announced that the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Belgrade will start the preparation of an epidemiological study of the exposure to the virus on a sample of 7,000 households in Serbia from 4 May.

Brnabic said that Serbia has started domestic production of antibody tests, which will be done by the Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy, with the first tests to be ready within a month.

At the moment, more countries have asked Serbia for support if we have additional amounts of antibody tests, the Prime Minister said, reiterating that Serbia is in a better position than the richer and more developed countries.

She also said that the value of humanitarian flights is approximately €2 million.

At the parliament session, the MPs should vote on the approval of the Decision on declaring a state of emergency, as well as on 44 decrees with legal force issued by the government, with the co-signature of the President of the Republic of Serbia and the Prime Minister.