COVID19 Update

• Current COVID-19 situation:The Ministry of Health monitors the COVID-19 outbreak. The updated number of cases, including total number of confirmed cases, cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, deaths, number of persons hospitalised and total number of tested people, is published daily on the Ministry’s website (https://covid19.rs/homepage-english/). The government issues regulatory responses to mitigate its effects on the economy, rules applicable to the population and information on a dedicated COVID-19 website.
• As the curve of active infections has flattened, the government has gradually started to open its economy since 21 April. The government also decided that temporarily designated COVID-19 hospitals will gradually return to the normal work. On 7 May, the state of emergency and curfew were lifted. There are no restrictions on movement for citizens of all ages, but everyone is strongly advised to respect the social distancing measures and to follow the sanitary protocol. The government has also announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country without a negative PCR test result less than 72 hours old.As of 22 May, a negative test or a special permit for both domestic and foreign citizens are no longer required to enter the country. The government also abolished self-isolation requirements upon entry. As of 27 May, public outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of 1000 people and regarding indoor spaces, a maximum of 100 people is allowed. Outdoor sport competitions in the presence of an audience will start from 1 June. As of 5 June, there are no more restrictions on the number of public outdoor gatherings, however, a preventative measure of physical distance must be applied –a distance of at least one metre. As for the closed space, the maximum number will be 500 people, instead of 100 as was previously allowed.As of 18 May, Air Serbia re-established commercial international flights from Belgrade to London, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich but with reduced frequencies, while flights to Sarajevo, Tivat and Skopje are set for the beginning of June. The planes of the Montenegrin airline company, Montenegro Airlines, will be denied permission to land at the Belgrade Airport from 27thof May, after the government of Montenegro announced that it had decided to open borders with a number of countries as of 1 June, but they remained closed to Serbia. As of 25 May, the citizens of Serbia and Hungary can freely pass the border between the two countries (without PCR tests and the mandatory 14-day quarantine). Serbia also plans to re-open its borders with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia as well as Bulgaria, Greece and Romania on 1 June.
• Serbia became one of the top-rated countries with the largest number of innovations for the new OECD initiative on Innovative Government Responses to the coronavirus crisis in the world. The innovative solutions implemented in Serbia are presented on the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) dedicated website (https://oecd-opsi.org/covid-response/).
• The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić announced that the general and local elections initially scheduled for 26 April were postponed due to the COVID-19. They will be heldon 21 June.