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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

649 health workers infected with coronavirus

Belgrade, 17 July 2020

Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar stated today that according to the latest data, 649 health workers are infected with coronavirus, 56 of them are hospitalised, while the rest are in self-isolation.

Speaking at a regular coronavirus press briefing of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Team, Loncar said that a total of 2, 798 persons were examined in COVID centres in Belgrade and another 130 during the night.

The Minister stated that over the past 24 hours the greatest number of people were tested in one day since the start of the epidemic – 9,910, of whom 392 tested positive for coronavirus.

Ten persons died over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the epidemic to 452, he said and added that 4,716 patients are hospitalised, of whom 184 are on ventilatory support.

Loncar pointed out that during April, the number of infected people aged 20 to 29 was 9.17 percent of the total number of those infected, while that population now makes up for 19.31 percent of the total number of infections.

This is an indicator that the young are now more affected by coronavirus, and more of them are on ventilatory support too.

Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the Clinical Centre of Serbia Goran Stevanovic warned that out of the total number of those infected, approximately five percent of patients need to be put on a ventilator. He added that in April there were more elderly citizens on ventilators, while now they are mostly younger ones because they get more infected.

The general experience until now in the world and in our country is that men get sick more often and have a more severe condition. In percentages, it is 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women who get infected, he said.

Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut" Darija Kisic Tepavcevic said that it is certain that the effects of new measures will be seen in the coming days if we act responsibly and conscientiously, as in recent days.

She pointed out that the estimates are that there are five to 10 times more people infected with coronavirus than registered, which is why the state insists so much on respecting preventive measures.

Answering the question as to which tests are included in the number of infected people who are announced to the public every day, Kisic Tepavcevic explained that these are only the results of PCR tests and that the gold diagnostic standard for this virus is precisely the PCR test, while serological tests are only an orientational triage for those who might have the disease.