Health authorities in Montenegro on Friday adopted more restrictive epidemiological measures that will apply to the entire country until December 1, while cafes and restaurants, whose owners threatened mass protests, will reopen on Sunday but under special conditions.

A curfew will be in force from 9 pm to 5 am and no more than four people can group together outdoors, movement outside one’s municipality will be banned on weekends and all religious gatherings are banned, as well as weddings and private parties.

Masks outdoors have been mandatory in Montenegro for some time already.

Following threats of mass protests by their owners, bars and restaurants will be allowed to be open from 7 am to 8 pm but with mandatory mask wearing, except while eating and drinking. It will also be necessary to set up plastic barriers between tables and only four people will be allowed to a table that needs to be separated by at least two metres from the next table.

Fitness centres and gyms will be allowed to remain open but with mandatory mask wearing and a limit of 1 person per 10 square metres.

The new measures enter into force as of Sunday.

Currently one percent of the population infected

Montenegro’s public health institute said that it had registered 601 new cases on Friday while 13 people have died as a consequence of COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 368.

There are currently 8,828 active cases in the country, which is over one percent of the population of 620,000. Since the outbreak of the epidemic 26,109 people have contracted the disease.

Montenegro registered a spike in numbers following a parliamentary election at the end of August. During electioneering campaigns, more than 100,000 people would attend the rallies.

Another spike occurred during the funeral of a Serbian Orthodox dignitary at the start of November, with several thousand people attending and lots of people kissing the hand of the corpse despite the fact that he died after being infected with coronavirus.