COVID19 Update

• Current COVID-19 situation: The Ministry of Health of North Macedonia monitors and holds daily press conferences on the COVID-19 outbreak. The detailed and updated number of cases – including statistics on patients in remission, number of new cases, deaths and the total of positive tests for COVID-19 – is published daily on the Ministry’s website (http://zdravstvo.gov.mk/category/pres-centar/pres-najavi/).
• Assessment of the health system:According to the North Macedonian Ministry of Health, the country has around 1 000 hospital beds at its disposal for hospitalisation of patients with coronavirus dispatched in a dozen State-owned and private hospitals. At the beginning of the outbreak, the country had around 250 respirators. As of 6 April, North Macedonia had 4 500 COVID-19 tests and quickly received 20 000 additional units.
• The Government issues regulatory responses to mitigate the effects on the economy, rules applicable to the population and information on a dedicated COVID-19 website (https://koronavirus.gov.mk/).
• In view of the improved situation as of mid may and the relative stabilisation of the curve of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in North Macedonia, the Government considered an exit from the containment measures and a progressive opening of the economy. On 12 May 2020, Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski announced a three step plan towards that end. However, the resurgence of the virus in some cities at the beginning of June prompted the authorities to repeat containment measures. Currently, the government alternates between opening up the economy under the three-stage plan and temporary and localised containment measures ranging from 24 to 80 hours.