BELGRADE, April 13. /TASS/. A group of Russian military medics has visited the Serbian town of Vranje in order to assess the situation with the novel coronavirus, the city administration informed on Monday.
"A medical team from the Russian Federation is currently in the city of Vranje, where it took part in a meeting with specialists organized by Mayor Slobodan Milenkovic. During the meeting, they assessed the epidemiological situation in the city as well as all actions and measures taken by the city emergency task force and the local crisis center to combat the spread of COVID-19. During the meeting, they discussed the opportunities of developing cooperation to combat the coronavirus," the message informs.
After the meeting, Russian military medics toured all hospitals and other medical facilities in the city where COVID-19 patients are receiving treatment.
Currently, Serbia has documented 2,684 cases of the novel coronavirus. Eighty people have died, 146 are on artificial ventilation machines. Serbia has declared a national emergency, fully closing its borders and introducing a curfew. Parliamentary elections have been canceled. The country has also shut down bus and rail service between Serbian cities. People over 65 are prohibited from leaving the house.
On March 26, Serbia’s Cabinet of Ministers asked Russia for help in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Belgrade has asked for aid in accordance with the existing agreement between the states on emergency humanitarian cooperation. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Serbia’s request would not remain unanswered.
On April 3-4, Russian army aircrafts transported 87 Russian military officers, including military medics, virologists from Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, special medical equipment, means of individual protection and 16 units of military equipment. Russian specialists have begun their work in Belgrade and other Serbian cities, disinfecting hundreds of thousands square meters at leading medical facilities.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,800,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 114,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 428,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.