COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The virus was confirmed to have reached Bosnia and Herzegovina on 5 March 2020, when a patient in Banja Luka, who had travelled to Italy, tested positive.
[4] On 17 March, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a state of emergency in the entire country.
[7] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
[36] The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced Armed Forces' placement of quarantine tents at the country's borders intended for Bosnian citizens returning home.
[37] On 15 March 2020, Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision which forbids for foreign nationals entering Bosnia and Herzegovina to enter from areas with intensive transmission of virus coronas, and especially from: Provinces of the PRC (Wuhan), South Korea, Japan, Italy, Iran, France, Romania, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium.
[40] Citizens of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia can enter Bosnia and Herzegovina without any additional condition from 1 June 2020.
Fines have already been passed to local pharmacies and stores who used this situation and high demand for anti-bacterial gels/sprays and surgical masks.
[46] The Headquarters of Federation of B&H issued on 18 March an order that banned all public gatherings, suspending the operation of all catering facilities for the preparation and sale of food and beverages, restaurants, pizzerias, confectioneries, beauty salons, hookah bars, coffee bars, discos, tea shops, cafes, private dentists.
[54] Croatia national football team manager Zlatko Dalić donated 40,000 HRK to Fra Mihovil Sučić Hospital in his hometown Livno, as well as Utah Jazz and Croatia men's national basketball team player Bojan Bogdanović who donated 50,000 USD to University Clinical Hospital in his hometown Mostar.
Furthermore, they concluded that fewer COVID-19 patients per million inhabitants died during the analyzed period, as compared with that in richer countries.
[59] Also during the course of May, BiH representatives have allowed work in most of the industries including cafes, private medical services (such as dentists) restaurants and beauty saloons with respecting the social distance as well as hygiene.
Banja Luka,[64] Čelinac, Prnjavor,[65] Mrkonjić Grad and Doboj[66] are some of the cities that made these restrictions.
[67] The Minister of Health and Social Security, Alen Šeranić, reported that 2,026 people are under surveillance in Republika Srpska.
Šeranić also noted that only citizens arriving from abroad would be allowed the virus testing, and quarantine will be made mandatory.
[68] On 21 March 2020, a curfew was introduced in entire Republika Srpska every day from 20:00 until 05:00,[69] and a total ban of movement for people older than 65.
[75] The Government of Brčko District is regularly adopting measures for control and prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic and publish them on their official website.
[153] Macroeconomic simulations in the report "COVID-19 Analysis Economic Consequences for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Measures and Solutions" by Admir Čavalić, Faruk Hadžić and Damir Bećirović show that BiH, ceteris paribus, will face a GDP decline in 2020 ranging from 3.97% to 9.53%.
[154] From 21 March, most of the sports activities were canceled across the entire country, including all football matches in all categories.
