The measures for restricted movement are valid for all Skopje municipalities because the city is a functional unit, said Health Minister Venko Filipce on Wednesday.

The epidemiological interviews showed that the infected persons and their contacts circulated around the city, and this is a measure to protect Skopje as a whole, Minister Filipce told a daily press conference.

He said that over 90 percent of the contacts are already known within the clusters, adding that the situation is fully under control.

The movement restrictions in Skopje, Kumanovo, Stip and Tetovo practically protect nearly two-thirds of the country’s population.

The reinstatement of restrictions is another proof that measures were not observed in the regions where new cases have been detected. This strict curfew will not be enforced in municipalities where measures have been respected. The movement restriction will further help in the identification of the contacts, placing them in isolation or testing them as an additional measure to prevent the virus transmission, noted Filipce.

Asked why a curfew is reinstated only a few days after it was cancelled, he said that nearly 90 percent of the new cases had been infected at family gatherings over the past ten or so days.

Interviews have shown these people circulated in their municipalities or in the nearby cities. This is an additional measure that we believe will help eliminate the virus spread, concluded Filipce.