The coronavirus epidemic shows no signs of abating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with local health officials warning on Monday that the situation is becoming increasingly more serious. Meanwhile, authorities announced tighter restrictions which include shutting down schools.

According to data released separately by authorities in Bosnia’s two regional governments on Monday, some 2,200 tests had been done since Sunday, with 393 new cases confirmed. Over  the past 24 hours, 38 patients have died.

Last week, the daily numbers of new cases peaked at above 900 two days, nearing what the media called ‘psychological threshold’ of 1,000 cases per day.

“There is nothing good ahead of us, things are not getting any better, and whatever is currently being done is not producing results. UKCS Sarajevo has 309 patients as of this morning, including 45 who are in an an extremely difficult condition,” the head of Sarajevo’s Clinical Hospital Centre (UKCS), Sebija Izetbegovic, told local media.

Cantonal authorities in Sarajevo said they would ramp up the enforcement of measures which include the mandatory wearing of face masks outdoors. Tighter restrictions are also under consideration in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus, after experts warned that the presence of new, more potent, strains of the virus have been confirmed in the country.

The situation is made worse by the delay in delivery of Western-made vaccines promised to Bosnia via the Covax program. In September last year, Bosnia had ordered 153,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 23,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and paid $10.5 million for them.

However, since Covax failed to make any deliveries yet, Bosnia’s regional governments began making deals with manufacturers directly – the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) received a second shipment of 20,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine on Monday, while the Bosniak-Croat Federation (FBiH) announced a public tender to procure 400,000 doses of the vaccine.

Under increasing public pressure, the Federation’s coronavirus task force said they would decide on Tuesday whether to tighten restrictions further. Local media speculate that schools – which currently mix online and in-person classes – might get shut down completely.