As Country Prepares for New Restrictions, Number of New COVID-19 Infections Remains High

Jerusalem, 17 December, 2020 (TPS) -- Skopje, 17 December 2020 (MIA) – New restrictions, adopted by the government after being recommended by the Commission for Infectious Diseases, enter into force on Friday (Dec. 18). Under the measures, enforced until Jan. 20, 2021, hospitality businesses will close at 6 pm, and organizing and holding of parties and celebrations during the holiday season is banned.

Also, New Year’s parties indoors and outdoors, organized by individuals or companies, are also barred.

Other restrictions include bans for hotels to organize holiday parties and celebrations. If already scheduled, they should be cancelled.

Restaurants as part of hotels, motels and hostels should close at 9 pm. They can be open only for their clients. Hotel bars should also close at 6 pm.

In line with the new restrictions, renting of holiday homes and other accommodations is banned so as to prevent grouping of people to celebrate the holidays. They, however, can be rented to one household.

On Wednesday, the country registered 865 new COVID-19 cases, 641 patients who have recovered and 25 fatalities. 

In his year-end annual address in Parliament, President Stevo Pendarovski urged the citizens to celebrate the holidays with only close family members.

“Last year, as a nation, we went through the greatest Golgotha that even our oldest citizens do not remember. We paid a huge price, over 2,100 of our fellow citizens lost their lives, many families are left in sorrow forever,” he said offering his condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and asked for one minute’s silence to pay respect to the 2,169 fatalities.

The President also extended his gratitude to the doctors, the medical staff and all the citizens who were and still are on the front line in the fight against the pandemic. “They are the real heroes of 2020,” Pendarovski stressed.

Earlier this week, the government launched the ‘Celebrate Responsibly’ campaign.

Since the start of the pandemic, North Macedonia has registered a total of 75,597 confirmed coronavirus cases, 51,493 patients have recovered and 2,194 people died of COVID-19-related complications. At the moment, the number of active cases in the country is 21,910.

2020-12-17 10:43:09, from Bisera Altiparmakova