The Government is supposed to meet this evening and discuss the proposals from the Committee on infectious diseases, which shockingly recommended that the main coronavirus restrictions are lifted – because the public was no longer following them.

Under the proposals, borders would be reopened on Monday and cafes and restaurants will open as soon as this Thursday, provided they can accommodate guests at a distance. The evening curfew would also be removed. Doctor Zarko Karadzovski, who heads the Committee, is expected to explain the proposal, which shocked the public as it was apparently based not on public healthcare issues but on the inability of the Government to continue implementing the measures. After the proposal, and its explanation, was broadly leaked, the Committee issued a denial. It did not deny that it is proposing that the main restrictions are lifted, but disputes the motivation.

The hospitality industry remains closed and the evening curfew is generally respected, except during the month of Ramadan when Muslim families frequently gathered for the large evening iftar dinners. The number of newly infected patients ranges from a dozen to four dozen a day and there were three fatalities reported in the past 24 hours, keeping Macedonia at the top of the Balkans in the Covid-19 mortality rate.

If you have a shred of professional ethics, you should resign now, said doctor Nenad Lazarov, who was critical of the Government’s approach to the epidemic, in a message aimed at Karadzovski’s Committee after today’s declaration of inability to implement the measures.

Macedonia is still under a state of emergency, and the Government has unprecedented powers to issue decrees. Decrees linked to the coronavirus epidemic were usually adopted as they were proposed by the Committee on infectious diseases.