Serbian city takes top spot on Covid list: "Vaccinated and people who recovered getting infected"

Illustration: Nikola Jovanovic; Photo: Shutterstock

All eyes are on Kragujevac these days, just like they were on Novi Pazar last year, because coronavirus has exploded in this city in the Sumadija District. For the first time since the beginning of the epidemic, Kragujevac rose to the first place in terms of the number of newly infected people on a daily basis.

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On Monday, there were 23, while 17 new daily cases on Tuesday meant that Kragujevac had taken over from Belgrade. The director of the Institute of Public Health in Kragujevac, Dr. Dragan Vasiljevic, tells Telegraf.rs that the cause is still unknown, that they know the new cases are not connected, but that there are vaccinated people among the newly infected, as well as those who already had Covid and recovered.

"For the first time, Kragujevac is ahead of Belgrade. At least there's something we're better at," Dr. Vasiljevic, half joking and half worried, tells Telegraf.rs:

"We had 1, 2, 3 (new cases per day) before it exploded, and we don't yet know what it is. Each day we continue to try to find a connection, if there is one at all. We can't find it yet. The infected people are mostly within the same family, parents and children."

Women and men are almost equally affected, and when it comes to their age, they are between 30 and 60 years old.

"When we had 23, we managed to contact 21, and for two we had to activate the police. Among the positive cases, 8 people have been vaccinated, and out of those 8 vaccinated, two had coronavirus 6 months ago. They do exhibit mild clinical pictures. Among the sick is our citizen who worked in Russia and returned. He felt the symptoms there, so he came here and infected his mother. Well, we know about those two. The others have nothing to do with one another other," explains Dr. Vasiljevic.

The explosion in new cases was preceded by several days of low single-digit numbers, and even some without any. The emergency situation was lifted in this city on May 11, but a little over a month later, they are wondering whether this situation is transient or not.

"All measures that are valid at the state level are valid here, the same as everywhere. I'm really interested in what will happen by the end of the week. It could be transient, accidental. I hope that will be the case, but I can't swear on it anymore because this virus goes beyond all rules. What we learned in school does not apply to it, there are special rules. Only discipline helps. But that's hard! I was passing through the city, people have relaxed... People were eager to socialize, however, if we just waited two more months and were fully disciplined, I think that Covid 19 would have turned into a seasonal illness," says Vasiljevic, who "counts on" the infection numbers falling in Kragujevac, because the cases have nothing to do with each other.

Not even a heatwave can touch it

When we remarked that even these current "tropical" temperatures in Serbia can't do anything to the virus, Vasiljevic reminded us that last year the virus was doing what it liked in similar circumstances.

"We expected it to be like flu, I still expect that this will pass and will be like the seasonal flu, and that it will be appearing in the fall and winter. We'll see by the end of the week how the numbers move, whether it will hold on in Kragujevac or fall again," said Dr. Vasiljevic.

He added that we have music festivals ahead of us that he is a little afraid of, and that is why once again to those who have relaxed, he is repeating the same advice given since day one.

"Arsenal Fest, Exit are coming up .. Exit scares me the most because it is an international festival. We'll see... I walk around town, go to stores, nobody's wearing a mask. But, we must! Disinfection. Distance. Masks. Nothing has changed here. All this is valid until the pandemic is declared over," Dr. Vasiljevic told Telegraf.rs.

(Telegraf.rs)