Montenegrin health authorities on Friday imposed a seven-day closure on discos and night clubs, both indoors and outdoors, after a sudden jump in daily coronavirus cases.

Over the past three days, Montenegro has been recording around 60 new cases a day, the most in the past two months. Still, health authorities say the situation remains favourable, as established by the World Health Organization, but call for caution.

The director of the Montenegrin Public Health Institute, Igor Galic, said he expected discos and night clubs to reopen on 2 August.

Music festivals and all indoor gatherings have also been banned.

Galic said that as of 2 August, only vaccinated people, those with a negative PCR test, and those who had recovered from COVID would be allowed inside hospitality establishments.

He said most of the new cases of infection were unvaccinated people under 29.

Montenegro has vaccinated over 35% of its adult population, while over 15% have recovered from COVID. The death toll is 1,624.