The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party accused Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce of trying to cover up coronavirus cases, after discrepancies appeared between numbers given by Filipce’s Ministry and local authorities.

The director of the Stip hospital, who is appointed by SDSM and is a former SDSM member of Parliament, said that they have 14 new cases in the city. The same day Venko Filipce announced only 1 new case in the city. The daily total for the entire country, Filipce said, is 67 newly diagnosed patients. Hours later the Ministry conceded it is 76. And yesterday, Veles Mayor Ace Kocevski announced four new cases over Facebook. Filipce said there are only two. It’s incredible how these numbers are being hidden from the public, said VMRO spokesman Dimitar Arsovski.

Macedonia is having a major new spike in Covid-19 cases, with the rates of infection and mortality the worst since the beginning of the epidemic. But the ruling SDSM party insists that elections take place on July 5, and has been trying to downplay the crisis.

Until a few days ago SDSM demanded elections only to have to re-introduce the curfew days later. All other countries around us have beaten the epidemic, only Macedonia is going through its peak, Arsovski said.