The spike in newly diagnosed coronavirus cases in Skopje’s Gazi Baba district is due to the iftar dinners held every evening throughout the Muslim month of Ramadan. The comments come after Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce also condemned the lack of respect for the coronavirus rules during the end of Ramadan.

Most of the cases come from family clusters that disrespected the measures and would gather during the iftar dinners in Singelic. Sadly, we have a deceased person from one of those clusters, said Gazi Baba Mayor Borce Georgievski.

There were 37 newly diagnosed Covid-19 patients reported on Sunday – five of them in Gazi Baba, which has had a steady number of new cases for days.

Georgievski called on the citizens to respect the measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus. Gazi Baba saw the only riot style situation in Macedonia during the curfew, during which Georgievski had to help release several activists of the Albanian wing of his SDSM party from detention to put an end to large scale protests.