Despite the increase in the number of new coronavirus cases, Bosnia's Federation entity, which covers 51 percent of the country's full territory, is not likely to enter another lockdown, authorities confirmed on Tuesday.

“We don’t plan to go for a lockdown, we have measures that are in effect and they need to be complied with,” prime minister Fadil Novalic told the media, following a meeting with representatives of local authorities from across the region.

Novalic said that authorities in each of the Federation’s ten cantons will be introducing public health measures individually, based on the assessment of the situation in each sub-region.

He also announced a vaccination campaign that will be promoted via public broadcasters and urged the citizens to get vaccinated, as “vaccine protects us from severe health conditions.”

Sinisa Skocibusic, acting director of the Federation’s Public Health Institute, warned about a slow immunisation process in this part of the country and said citizens need to be motivated to get their shots because mass vaccination is “the only way back to the old normal.”

“We’re not a desert island in the FBiH and we must follow what others are doing in Europe, where measures are more strict than those that we apply. The best flexibility that the FBiH government wants to promote is the functionality of the public system. That means the work of cafe bars, restaurants, theatres and cinemas and other places of gathering,” he said.

Skocibusic stressed that there is a sufficient quantity of vaccines and that the number of vaccinated citizens has doubled over the past two months, but that this is still not enough.

According to official data, 17.46 percent of the population in the FBiH got the first dose, while a little more than 10 percent is fully vaccinated in the FBiH.

The authorities still have not presented the number of citizens who were vaccinated outside Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to Skocibusic, 90 percent of currently hospitalised Covid patients were not vaccinated.

Goran Cerkez, assistant FBiH Health Minister, also addressed the press conference following the meeting, calling for the authorities at the state level to create a COVID passport, which would enable citizens to travel abroad without difficulties.

He said that the Federation has no support of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s other semi-autonomous region, for this initiative.