Belgrade, April 6. /TASS/. Russian military specialists have commenced their work on fighting the coronavirus in Serbia, including disinfection measures, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Monday.

"Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops and specialized military vehicles are involved in decontamination and disinfection of medical facilities. On Sunday, more than 60,000 square meters of indoor areas and 5,000 square meters of surrounding outdoor area was disinfected," the Ministry said.

At the initial stage, Russian medics analyze the epidemiological situation and provide consultations and train their Serbian colleagues on quarantine and disinfection procedures.

The servicemen have inspected and prepared the vehicles, medical equipment and protection gear and have examined the future operations area. A temporary vehicle pool has been set up at the Serbian Armed Forces Military Medical Academy.

Following the earlier meeting of representatives of the ministries of health and ministries of defense, the Narodni Front OB-GYN clinic and the Dragisa Misovic medical center were designated as priority decontamination targets. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, "patients with medium and heavy coronavirus infection disease are isolated and treated there."

Deputy head of the Narodni Front clinic revealed: "Forty-six medics from our clinic contracted the infection; they are all in a stable condition now. Two pregnant women also got infected. Currently, we have 12 medics on duty; we experience severe shortage of staff. Following the employees’ infection, we conducted the disinfection ourselves, with assistance from the city services; the next day, Russian services disinfected the hospital. Right now, the hospital is completely disinfected and safe," Branka Nikolic said.

Aid to Serbia

Earlier, Russian military planes delivered 87 Russian servicemen, including medics, virologists, as well as medical equipment and 16 vehicles. The Russian Ministry of Defense disclosed that two medical brigades would stay in Belgrade, where the coronavirus situation is the most difficult, while other five would be dispatched to Nis, Kikinda, Valjevo and Cuprija.

A total of 1,908 coronavirus cases were registered in Serbia, the fatality count has increased to 51, while 98 people are being supported by the ventilators.

President Aleksandar Vucic disclosed that a large number of Serbian soldiers, who maintained the emergency regime, had contracted the disease. The country’s Interior Ministry has also reported first victims among the law enforcement officers.

Serbia has sealed off its borders, and introduced a state of emergency and a curfew. The parliamentary elections were cancelled, inter-city bus and railroad service has been shut down. People above 65 are barred from going outdoors.

Pandemic

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. To date, approximately 1,300,000 people have been infected worldwide and roughly 70,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 265,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

So far, a total of 6,343 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 406 patients having recovered from the virus. The country’s latest data indicates 47 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.