SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev and Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce came out with assurances to the public, as the grim reports of high deaths and newly infected patients come day after day.

The measures we took are giving results. We should continue to believe in them and in our ability to protect public health. This is a different wave of the virus and we had enough time to prepare, our doctors are ready and have gained experience, Zaev said through a Facebook message.

Zaev has been pushing for elections to take place as soon as possible, apparently hoping that a very low turnout election, while the public is scared of the virus, will benefit his SDSM party. But his demand has been undermined by the exceptionally bad death and infection rates following the mass gatherings over the Muslim month of Ramadan.

In a separate statement, Healthcare Minister Filipce supported Zaev’s position and said he will not resign because of the dreadful results in the managing of the epidemic.

The epidemic is under control and I’ve said a number of times why I think that. Our work is conducted with expertise and professionally. We don’t have the worst death rate in the region, we have our own way of measuring that, Filiipce said. He has tried to present the number of deaths as a ratio of the total number of diagnosed patients, and not as a ratio of the population, which is how other countries in the region calculate the death rate.