Same thing was happening in Italy before 2,000 people died: Isolation violation fine up to RSD 150K

A day after a state of emergency was declared in Serbia due to coronavirus, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic addressed the public. She pointed out that the picture from the streets of Belgrade today was devastating because crowds of people are bigger than usually during workdays.

"Pensioners have not listened to our plea, to us begging them to stay at home. We were afraid of this when we said we should not close schools, because children are on the streets today. Pensioners are at counters, and all in all, at the just finished crisis HQ meeting we agreed that civic discipline is quite a concern. We will need to adopt additional measures. We will further tighten the measures regarding the operation of cafes and restaurants. We will close all public service counters," the prime minister said.

She added that export of all types of medicines from Serbia has been banned.

Purchasing of masks restricted

"We will also limit the purchase of masks and gloves, so one person will be able to buy 10 masks, two packs of larger or five packs of smaller disinfectants, and ten pairs of gloves. Of course, we cannot limit this if people want to shop in several pharmacies, but as far as we can control it, we will. I feel defeated that we have to introduce such measures because it means that there is no discipline or solidarity yet."

"We will also specify that for all citizens coming from those countries which are coronavirus hotspots quarantine, rather than self-isolation will be ordered," said the prime minister.

Violations of isolation order to cost up to 150,000 dinars

If citizens violate self-isolation, they will be fined up to 150,000 dinars.

"We also considered jailing them, but that's not safe at this point. This is a state of emergency, we all need to fight together. If somebody doesn't respect the decision on self-isolation, they must be punished," said Brnabic.

She said she will have a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at 2 pm tomorrow to discuss further measures.

Tomorrow is D Day

"We are doing this to save our elderly. We don't want to arrest them and put them in jail. We'll see what the situation is like tomorrow. Once again, I beg everyone over 65 not to go outside. Everything will be figured out. We have that much solidarity. We have a large number of volunteers who want to help senior citizens. We have funds, and food. Just sit at home. Unless the situation changes, tomorrow morning we will ban citizens over 65 from going outside."

Chronic patients, people over the age of 65, as well as anyone who has children under the age of 12 and works in the public administration  do not have to come to work, they can work from home, Brnabic said.

The first donation has arrived

"We have received the first donation from China, we received test kits to detect coronavirus. We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Chinese embassy for this. We are also discussing some future donations," the PM added.

"Everything we are doing will be subordinate to the elderly fellow citizens, so that they don't have to worry that they will be deprived of anything. I guarantee it. We will have people who will deal just with that. It's good that we don't have to worry about other sections of the population. This task is not so difficult. There are about 1.7 million pensioners in Serbia."

According to the prime minister, large companies have mostly organized shifts to reduce the number of workers in one place.

"Shopping malls, as well as cafes and restaurants, cannot be closed without incurring huge government costs, but we will limit the number of people in shopping malls. But the biggest problem are our cafes because they are full of young people who would otherwise be in school at the moment. After all, online classes are starting tomorrow."

All this was happening in Italy

"As for public transport, the City of Belgrade has abolished night lines. It's a measure by which we have tried to discourage people from going anywhere. Truth be told, public transport should be shut down so that people would not go anywhere. I don't understand where all these people are going. And that's why I'm making an appeal: people, don't, why play with anyone's life. Where are all these people in Belgrade headed to, in a state of emergency? We're not listening to appeals made by professionals. All this was happening in Italy until the day came when they had 2,000 dead and now everyone has to sit at home. I appeal to common sense. Why would we have to introduce a police curfew in a free country. The fewer dead people in Serbia, the better. And for that reason we are going to introduce a curfew, I have no problem with that," Brnabic says.

"Also, if you have symptoms and go see your doctor, you're creating an even bigger problem because then coronavirus enters the hospitals and health centers. We will organize everything, just call us and ask for help."

Earlier today, the prime minister urged citizens to follow the recommendations of the state and experts to reduce the spread of coronavirus and said that otherwise drastic measures would be introduced, including a complete ban on freedom of movement, and a curfew.

She stressed that she saw big traffic jams in the capital today and in crowds in the streets and said that citizens did not take the recommendations of the president, the prime minister and experts seriously enough.

"Please exercise self-discipline, especially senior citizens, do not go out. Do not make us impose curfews and take the military and police to the streets and completely prohibit freedom of movement. That is the most drastic measure possible, and neither I nor the president would want to implement it," said Brnabic.

She said that if such a situation continued, more drastic measures would have to be taken in the next two days, which would include additional involvement of the Interior Ministry (MUP), and the Serbian Army.

A state of emergency was introduced in Serbia on Sunday to prevent the spread of coronavirus and this decision was made after a series of meetings between security services and representatives of state institutions, President Aleksandar Vucic said.

The decision came into force immediately, and as of today, March 16, preschools, schools and universities have been suspended. Until further notice, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and universities in the Republic of Serbia will be closed.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said last night that the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in Serbia is yet to come, and that the most critical will be day 15 since the appearance of the first case.

So far in Serbia, 55 people have been infected with the virus.

(Telegraf.rs)