Šeranić: 42 new cases in RS, starting testing of healthcare workers

BANJA LUKA, (Patria) – RS Health Minister Alen Šeranić confirmed this morning that there are 42 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in RS from samples taken over the past weekend. 

In the last 24 hours, 216 samples were taken, and of the 42 infected, 24 are men and 18 are women, mostly middle-aged.

"Of the 42 infected, 15 were already hospitalized. As of today, we have 346 confirmed cases of coronavirus. We have 56 recovered from coronavirus. So far, 3,025 tests have been performed in RS," said Šeranić.

At UKC RS, there are 44 patients with severe clinical forms, 61 patients in pulmonology, 5 patients on ventilators, and 10 in isolation awaiting testing.

Šeranić said that there has been a decrease in border crossings, and therefore a decrease in the number of people staying in tent quarantine. 

"We will conduct a wider screening of healthcare workers, testing them by random sampling, and we will also conduct testing in nursing homes, considering the number of people entering and leaving. All health centers will be obliged to activate their acute respiratory infection clinics and take swabs, sending them to the Institute of Public Health. We will test individuals from households where someone is positive to prevent further spread, as well as control tests for recovered individuals. We will start more extensive testing this week," announced Šeranić.

When asked if any patient on a ventilator had recovered, Šeranić said he did not have confirmation of such information at the moment.