Serbia’s coronavirus crisis team decided on Friday to relax the existing restrictive measures in the country and allow the opening of outdoor cafes and restaurants as of Monday after weeks of partial lockdown despite almost 5,000 new cases a day, while the number of death cases was above 30.

Also, starting on Monday, the team extended the food stores and gyms working hours from 9 to 10 pm.

Relaxed measures depend on the strict respect of physical distance, the crisis team said.

The opening of shopping malls will be discussed over the weekend and early next week.

Dr Branislav Tiodorovic, a member of the crisis team, warned earlier on Friday that the country’s hospitals have been overwhelmed with COVID patients and added that the current anti-pandemic measures should not be eased until the situation changes.

Many independent doctors have been warning that the country needed a total lockdown for two-three weeks if it wanted to curb the epidemic.

On March 16, 2020, ten days after the first coronavirus case in the country was officially reported, Serbia introduced the state of emergency and a curfew with 46 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths. It lasted until May 6, ahead of the June general elections in the country.

Exactly a year ago, on April 2, 2020, official data put the number of deaths from COVID-19-related complications at 31, while 111 people were confirmed infected with the coronavirus.

This Friday, according to the Health Ministry, 39 people died and 4,826 were infected over the last 24 hours.