Vaccination and testing points have been closed for five days over the New Year and Christmas holidays, even as the number of new cases is spiking. In a statement, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party called out outgoing Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce for the holiday break from vaccinations, as the number of active cases in Macedonia doubled in a matter of days and new testing and positive cases are at near record highs – likely due to the mass New Year celebrations and the spread of the omicron variant.

On Monday, there were 4,817 active cases, and on Friday we had 9,166. Meanwhile, the sites for vaccination and testing are closed. Citizens are forced to pay to private companies to get tested. For two years Filipce and Zoran Zaev have shown that they don’t care about the plight of our citizens, VMRO said in its statement.

Citizens have taken to social media to complain about the lack of public testing options as they are often forced to test multiple family members who fear that they have contracted Covid.