Despite ramping up restrictions during the past weekend, the number of new coronavirus cases and related deaths in Serbia continued to rise on Tuesday. Doctors in the country's Covid task force called for even tighter measures to come into force for at least a week in order to cut the surge in cases.

Over the past 24 hours another 20 people have died from coronavirus-related conditions in Serbia. Out of 16,816 tests conducted, 4,576 o 27 percent turned out positive, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

There was also an increase in the number of Covid patients in hospitals throughout Serbia. There were 4,279 patients in hospital care on Tuesday, including 189 placed on ventilators.

Predrag Savic, deputy director of the Dragisa Misovic Hospital which is one of the main Covid hospitals in the capital Belgrade, told state television RTS that the hospital is running at nearly full capacity, meaning that some patients might have to be transferred to other hospitals in the country.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Serbia a total of 3,072,096 tests have been conducted, registering 494,106 positive coronavirus cases. If the current trend continues the total number of cases to date will exceed half a million by the end of the week.

According to the latest available information 1,704,7090 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 623,424 people receiving both doses of the vaccine. Serbia has a population of about 6 million.