Čerkez: Public transport from May 14, travel no earlier than June 15

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Goran Čerkez, Assistant Minister of Public Health and member of the crisis staff of the FBiH Ministry of Health, said that in the last 24 hours, 649 people were tested, of whom seven were positive, in Maglaj, Tešanj, and Bosanski Petrovac.

"634 patients have recovered, in the past 24 hours we have 46 recovered patients. There are 325 active cases of coronavirus in FBiH. A total of 22,927 samples have been tested, of which 993 are positive. As of today, we have 35 deaths. The last case is an elderly woman from Cazin with chronic diseases," said Čerkez.

In the coming period, we expect a reduction in restrictive measures from May 14, and we have meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

"We will ease certain measures to return them to their previous state, primarily enabling public city transport, kindergartens, the start of dental practices, certain outdoor sports activities, and the number of people who can hold gatherings indoors up to 15 people, which would allow hoteliers to work. Cafes and bars will also be opened, but for now, we are only talking about outdoor seating, while in the final phase, indoor spaces, shopping malls, and fitness centers would be opened," said Čerkez.

He said they hope they will not need to return to any restrictive measures.

"Responsibility lies with local communities, I call on citizens to continue to be cautious together, to use protection, with distance and wearing protective masks, we can say that we are quite safe," said Čerkez.

Speaking about the possibility of lifting the 14-day mandatory isolation for people entering BiH, Čerkez said that they are guided by the epidemiological situation, not by anyone's wishes.

"The EU was a unified space within which certain rules applied. We currently believe that we are slowly and gradually easing measures, including the 14-day isolation when we assess that it will not endanger anyone. We will monitor the easing within the EU and the region and ease accordingly. For the protection of the rest of the population, the 14-day self-isolation measure is mandatory. I expect some normalization after June 15, just as the EU is doing," said Čerkez.

When asked about health services, i.e., the normalization of the health system, given that citizens have other illnesses, Čerkez said that the Crisis Staff emphasized during the Covid 19 crisis that no law was suspended.

"On April 29, we passed a decree asking cantonal crisis staffs to return the health system to normalization. Covid clinics will continue to exist, but normalization should begin," said Čerkez.