Pulmologist Oliver Zafirovski arned that Macedonia is in danger of a third continuous coronavirus wave, after, unlike all other countries in the region, it failed to place the epidemic under control.

We are the only country that still has a high number of newly infected patients and that is still counting deaths. We are the only ones still toying with curfews. We are now in the second wave, that was expected in autumn. The Committee on infectious diseases lost any credibility it had, after bowing to political pressure. The only solution is to have actual professionals take part in determining our policies, and not politicians, Zafirovski said.

The Committee decided to relax restrictions two weeks ago, as the ruling SDSM party is pushing for early elections and needed to create a sense of normalcy. But the spike, likely linked to the disregard for restrictions during the Muslim month of Ramadan, came as soon as the measures were relaxed, leading to a reintroduction of curfews over the Pentecost weekend.