The mood in Airport City after coronavirus infection: People make jokes, no panic - and no masks

People walk around as usual, have coffee, go to the supermarket, take breaks...

It's business as usual today in Airport City, a large complex of office buildings in New Belgrade where the second case of coronavirus infection has been reported. Employees do their work as before, even in the building where the firm whose employee has been infected is located. Not only is there no panic, but jokes are made about coronavirus.

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"Whaaat? Coronavirus here? Dude, that's top," says one girl we approached, who is employed in one of the buildings of Airport City.

As she says, there are precaution measures and an action plan in case of the emergence of the virus.

In the building that houses the offices of the company where the infected man works, other companies (at least some of them) work normally. People enter the building without masks, security also has no special protective equipment, while protection measures are reduced to hand hygiene and disinfection. Emmployees say that warning notices about safety measures have been put up in their offices.

"We avoid elevators and take the stairs," say some of the employees.

And everyone, of course, jokingly hopes for an evacuation.

"Have them make the building not work," one of the employees tells us.

In Serbia, they added, there are many more important things to panic about.

Isolation room ready for emergencies

There is also a healthcare center within the complex. The front door says that people with symptoms of infectious diseases should not enter.

"I see you are reading the notice, do you need to be isolated?," we were greeted at the door.

In the waiting room, the situation is normal. Nobody wears masks, but patients are filling out epidemiological questionnaires.

Masks, they say, are provided if we need them, and there is a double entrance to the isolation room accessed from the outside. Hazmat suits are also ready, while doctors and nurses follow an algorithm provided for this situation.

However, even if the health center is equipped, there is a shortage in the pharmacy.

"Good day, do you have masks," one of the passersby in this complex asks in the pharmacy.

The pharmacist shrugs. Unfortunately, she had to turn him back because there were no masks. We couldn't even buy a hand sanitizer, and were only offered 5 percent Asepsol, which must be diluted.

Chinese national most likely infected during business meeting

The Chinese national, who is the second registered coronavirus case in Serbia, is one of the engineers at his company and recently attended a business meeting in one of the countries in the region.

All employees who have been in contact with him are safe - they are either in self-isolation or in isolation.

As we have been told, this company is one of those that put precautionary measures in place even before coronavirus was registered in Serbia.

(Mateja Beljan)