Fifth coronavirus case confirmed in Bosnia

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Hours after the healthcare authorities of Republika Srpska (RS), one of two Bosnia's semi-autonomous regions, confirmed a new coronavirus infection case on Monday, the authorities of the other region, the Federation (FBiH), have confirmed its first case later the same day, bringing the total number of positive cases in the country to five.

“Since last Saturday, when we had a press conference, we have detected a new confirmed case of coronavirus in RS, which brings the total number of confirmed patients to four,” RS Health Minister Alen Seranic said on Monday. 

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The infected patient is a girl from the northern town of Celinac, whose father tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.

The father previously stayed in Italy and arrived in the country together with the man who was the first to be tested positive for coronavirus in Bosnia.

The fifth case in Bosnia was reported Monday evening in the central town of Zenica. A woman who recently stayed in Italy was put in a self-quarantine upon her return but the tests conducted several days later have shown she was positive for the virus.

“We can confirm that the patient tested positive for coronavirus, but she has not been hospitalised at the Sarajevo University Clinical Centre and the virus has not been detected in Sarajevo Canton yet,” member of the Sarajevo Canton Crisis Committee, Adem Zalihic, told N1.

Federation's competent authorities issued new instructions earlier on Monday, recommending that all public events on the FBiH territory are either cancelled or postponed, to prevent a potential virus spread.