Tetovo, 27 August 2021 (MIA) – The epidemiological situation will be the basis for measures in the upcoming months when the census and local elections are set to take place, but if protocols are observed there will be no issues, Minister of Health Venko Filipche told reporters in Tetovo on Friday. “Last year, we recommended there not be any big meetings, and what matters is that the political parties know there are recommendations for the organization of gatherings. There are general recommendations for organizing outdoor or indoor events and gatherings, such as the capacity that can be used from the overall capacity, the distance that needs to be held, and we don’t see an issue when it comes to holding events and abiding by protocols. Problems arise when protocols are not being followed,” the Minister said. He added that hospitals in the other cities across the country, unlike those in Tetovo and Gostivar, are not overcrowded, linking this to higher vaccination rates and expressing hopes that the situation remains unchanged. “Yes, there are such cases of people who have contracted Covid after getting vaccinated, who have also had the illness prior to vaccination, but their number is exceedingly small. The field of medicine hasn’t answered every question about this illness. It’ll probably be a while until we know why there are patients with milder symptoms, or more serious ones, and why some unfortunately die despite being treated the same as those who got vaccinated. There are many aspects of the illness we don’t know about yet. What we do know for sure is that the vaccine minimizes the risk of death by 20 times. 85% of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, and that’s why there’s this call for vaccination, not just in our country, but everywhere,” Filipche said. In regard to the opening of new vaccination sites in Tetovo, the Minister pointed out that it’s currently being managed due to the start of the school year. “A portion of healthcare professionals went on holiday, so we stopped holidays in some places, some people who hadn’t left the country went back to work in order for additional vaccination points to be opened. That’s also how we opened the point at the Boris Trajkovski Hall in Skopje on Thursday.” Filipche met on Friday with Teuta Arifi in Tetovo and announced that the Crisis HQ decided that that in the first two weeks classes in the Polog region will be held online. dk/mm