Doctor Zarko Karadzovski, the head of the Committee on infectious diseases, said that the Healthcare Ministry is working to greatly increase the capacity for coronavirus testing. Karadzovski said that there are currently 11 institutes that conduct the tests, and that three more will be added, leading to a capacity of 1,500 daily tests, and possilby even 2,000 by the end of the year.

Macedonia is still in the grip of a major Second Wave of the epidemic, that began in early June, with the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan, and has the worst infection and mortality rates in the region, with over 4,000 active cases and the total death toll approaching 500.

Karadzovski said that are plans in place to put together two additional Covid-19 field hospitals, that would prevent having patients with the virus entering the general hospitals.

In response, the Mayor of Kumanovo Maksim Dimitrievski, called for one such hospital to be placed in his city, that was hit early and hard by the epidemic. “I see such activities in Skopje, but we still have no response from the Government what they plan to do with regard to Skopje. We are ready to prepare the grounds for it”, Dimitrievski said.