Experts recommend that people who have been placed in 14-days state quarantine after returning from abroad, should remain in home isolation for another 14 days after being released, because they stayed in group quarantine centers, PM Oliver Spasovski said at a press conference on Monday, in answer to a reporter’s question.

The government’s decision to place people in state quarantine was a good move, because it contains the spread of the virus and protects citizens. That’s why state quarantine sites were designated, Spasovski said.

Regarding the situation at the infectious diseases unit at the Stip hospital, Health Minister Venko Filipce said that circumstances changed when a patient tested positive for coronavirus after first testing negative a few days before.

Thankfully, people who were placed in home isolation have not demonstrated coronavirus symptoms and staff has been reinforced with eight nurses from other units and a doctor from Strumica, he said.

Patients being treated for infectious diseases, Filipce added, are being cared for like all other hospitalized patients and hospitals are supplied with protective gear.

Unfortunately, both here and throughout the world, healthcare workers are getting infected with COVID-19, because they are constantly at risk of being exposed to the virus. However, hospital staff rotates regularly and the process is monitored on national level by two coordinators who track staff experience and coronavirus training,  the minister underlined.