Its first case in Serbia was reported on 6 March 2020,[4] and confirmed by Minister of Health Zlatibor Lončar.
[6] In late June 2020, the Balkan Insight published a report based on the allegedly leaked data from the internal Government COVID-19 information system.
[1] In September 2020, NIN weekly released research results that show a significant discrepancy between the data on the number of infected persons and the number of tests that were released by the Government during July and the data that was obtained from individual public health institutions through the freedom of information requests.
[11][12] Several senior department chiefs at Military Medical Academy have been dismissed after supporting the open letter.
[13] In August 2020 Professor Goran Belojević of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine publicly stated that Serbia has registered 5,000 deaths.
[14] On 29 September 2020, Predrag Kon, chief epidemiologist and a member of the state anti-COVID-19 Crisis Team, publicly admitted that there is a delay in data processing and that the number of deaths until the end of June was three times higher than officially reported (277).
[15] Health Minister refuted those claims the next day saying that they are "unfounded" and warned Kon against making such comments again.
[17] 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 of China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
One woman was forced to go home, after insulting police officers and refusing to comply with the measures of the curfew.
Starting from Monday, all the close spaced markets, beauty and cosmetic salons, fitness centers and gyms can now work.
On 26 June, new measures have been imposed for Belgrade, from now on wearing masks is mandatory in closed spaces and in public transport.
[39] On 27 June, due to growing number of COVID-19 positives and packed hospitals with patients, new measures have been taken for the south-western municipalities of Novi Pazar and Tutin.
[42] On 31 March, Vučić announced that all the small and medium-sized companies will receive help for the following 3 months to "survive" under the condition that they don't fire 10 percent of employees.
[45] As the number of infections rose throughout Europe, on 26 February 2020 president Aleksandar Vučić called a press conference where he addressed the possibility of the virus impacting Serbia.
This news conference made headlines after a pulmonologist, Dr. Branimir Nestorović, made joking statements about the virus, calling it "the most laughable virus in the history of mankind" and suggested that women should travel to then virus-affected Italy for shopping because "estrogen protects them".
The president, who was visible in the background expressing amusement and chuckling at this during the TV broadcast, later denied any accusations of portraying the virus as such by Dr.
[46] In April 2020, a decree that limited access to public information about COVID-19 was announced and a journalist was arrested for writing an article on alleged shortages of medical equipment and neglect of medical staff, but after public outcry and reactions from the EU, RSF, and IPI, charges were dropped and the journalist released.
[52] The countries and international organizations that have sent aid and funds to Government of Serbia, to help fight the pandemic: Total confirmed cases, recoveries and deaths New cases per day Sudden jump in number of recoveries since 6 June was explained by changed methodology of determining healthy patients, requiring only one negative COVID-19 PCR test, as opposed to two negative test at least 24 hours apart required before.