Talha Öztürk
06 July 2020•Update: 06 July 2020
BELGRADE, Serbia
Serbia's coronavirus outbreak is at a dangerous juncture as the number of patients continues to mount, a senior health official said, warning of increasing risks in the Fall.
Provincial Secretary of Health Zoran Gojkovic's remarks came on Monday, saying that the Balkan country's healthcare system was overstretched due to the pandemic that has been raging for more than four months.
"All this has been going on for more than four months, the workers are tired, and there are more and more patients now," said Gojkovic.
Predicting larger numbers of infections in the coming Fall, he said: "It's a very dangerous situation, if we don't overcome this situation in a month or two, we'll be in trouble because it will be Fall and it will be colder [...] We won't be able to accept all patients with COVID-19 infection."
He added that the country would continue to see rising case numbers, underlining that hospitals had been filled due to issues other than the coronavirus.
"We have to understand that unlike March, when we had an increased number of patients, we now have a big problem with non-corona patients. There is a large number of traffic injuries, injuries at work. When you reduce movement, reduce fluctuations, you have fewer cases," he said.
During the state of emergency, there were fewer heart attacks and other problems because people remained at home, explained Gojkovic.
The Serbian military on Monday set up an emergency 500-bed field hospital in the capital Belgrade as the country battled to contain a surge in coronavirus infections.
Belgrade's deputy mayor, Goran Vesic said the makeshift hospital in a sports hall was a "precautionary measure," as hospitals were reaching their full capacity because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Serbia currently has only 3,067 active coronavirus cases -- out of 16,131 total confirmed cases, with a death toll of 311, according to data compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
