Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce admonished the public of disrespecting the coronavirus regulations. The curfew was relaxed starting yesterday, but citizens are now mandated to wear masks in all closed public spaces as well as outside when there is no room for distancing. And yet many people could be seen on Thursday and Friday without masks, and the distancing rule is also frequently violated.

It is my personal impression, based on the photographs I can see, that the rules are being violated. I can’t say if that is the general rule or are those exceptions but we are in a stage when we need to build a way of behavior that will persist after the end of the state of emergency, Filipce said during his press conference today.

He pointed to pictures that were shared online and in news outlets and asked for full compliance with the new regulations. He insisted that wearing masks is necessary because many carriers of the virus don’t show symptoms and could be unwittingly infecting vulnerable citizens.