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Slobodna Dalmacija daily: Montenegro still coronavirus-free. How is it possible?

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Marina Karlović Subolić, a journalist from Slobodna Dalmacija daily

Schools are closed, as well as hospitality businesses and shopping malls. They also closed play rooms for children and betting shops. Their border crossings. All foreigners are prohibited from entering the country.

They landed planes, suspended international road and rail traffic. They introduced bans on all public gatherings. All Montenegro nationals who came from abroad during these days were ordered to stay at home (self-isolation).

They launched the ‘Stay at home’ campaign and urged all citizens not to go outside unless they really need to.

This all happened over the past few days in a country which is, for now, Europe’s last coronavirus-free state.

State bodies dealing with health issues have carried out over 90 testing and have 638 people under surveillance.

By introducing restrictions, they hope to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country. And in case it hits the country, to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“We could see that many countries were late with introducing measures, which resulted in an uncontrolled spread of this epidemic. We must not make the same mistake and that is why we are introducing restrictions,“ Deputy PM of the Government of Montenegro, Milutin Simović, explained on Monday.

“We want to remain Europe’s virus-free zone and show that we all have the ability to prevent the occurrence and spread of this disease in Montenegro. In order to do this, we need a good and organized response from all. Each of us should provide contribution individually. I hereby ask you to abide by the measures we recommended,” Head of the Montenegrin Public Health Institute, Boban Mugoša, announced a day before.

Montenegro has traditionally good ties with Italy, which represented the biggest threat. However, the virus began to circulate across the Balkans as well, as the number of infected people from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is continuously rising.

But for now, Montenegro successfully resists the coronavirus.

 

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