The DUI party, which represents mostly ethnic Albanians, called on the public to avoid family gatherings that have contributed to the recent major spike in the coronavirus epidemic.

Covid-19 continues to endanger the health of the citizens and we need to stop it. Let’s avoid family gatherings and meetings with friends, let’s accept the testing and cooperate with the interviews, let’s maintain hygiene and only leave the homes with masks, DUI said.

The spike is concentrated largely in the Albanian majority parts of Macedonia, where coronavirus restrictions were largely ignored during the Muslim month of Ramadan. The Healthcare Ministry also objected that many citizens there refused to cooperate with the mandatory interviews conducted in order to map out the contacts infected individuals have had.