Doctors in Gostivar warn that the city is facing a tsunami of coronavirus cases, Alfa TV reports. The local general hospital is filled to capacity and even as the most serious cases are sent to Skopje for treatment, many of those left in Gostivar are also in difficult condition.

The Polog Valley is hardest hit by the current Fourth Wave of the pandemic. Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanian emigrants returned to the region for the summer, and many organized lavish weddings and celebrations, where the virus spread exceptionally quickly.

Currently, Tetovo and Gostivar account for about a third of all cases in Macedonia, and are tied with the much larger capital Skopje with the number of deaths and infections.

Meanwhile the state DPI inspection service refused to answer to a set of questions from Alfa TV, asking how frequently were they checking the wedding halls that turned out to be main spreaders of the virus. The arrival of the emigrants is a major financial boon to the country and the institutions were loathe to disrupt their spending, but this led to tragic consequences.