The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stated today that at no time were statistical data about the coronavirus epidemic in Serbia intentionally hidden.
She told Radio Television of Vojvodina that, to the greatest extent possible, the data that is officially published is "real data".
"We took volunteers to sit in hospitals and collect data, but we don't have a system like in the state administration that pulls data electronically. We introduced some kind of system that never existed in Serbia until now, we introduced it ad hoc during the biggest global crisis in recent years 100 years," said Ana Brnabić.
She confirmed that there are data that are intended only for the Government of Serbia and not for the public, but added that she does not know what the BIRN newsroom is talking about, which published data from, as they stated, the Kovid-19 information system, which show that the number of infected and dead is significantly higher than the official number.
"I am constantly receiving data on how many free ventilators we have, but this is not information for the public, because not all ventilators were occupied by patients who are covid positive," said the Prime Minister.
She denied that the data on the number of tests or respirators are confidential information and stated that there are currently more than 500 respirators in warehouses and that at no time during the fight against the epidemic, Serbia did not have the full capacity of respirators.
"Every day I talk about how many tests we have in stock, the president recently talked about exactly how many respirators we have. At the beginning, it was extremely sensitive information, because we knew that a huge fight was brewing on the world market for the supply of respirators," said Ana Brnabić.
Speaking about citizens' trust in the Crisis Staff and the actions of the Government of Serbia in the fight against the epidemic, she said that a mistake was made when everyone thought that the virus would not be circulating during the summer as it is today.
"I have no problem saying that we made a mistake in something, because we listened to what the profession in the world was saying. Everyone made a mistake there, the explosion of numbers is everywhere in the region and the world. This is a struggle for all of us, not only the Government of Serbia. I feel human the most responsible, but this is the struggle of the entire society," said the Prime Minister.
She also assessed that the reputation of the members of the Crisis Staff "has been undermined since March by some politicians, political groups, analysts, and the media."
"I don't see the point in that. None of them suffered any public odium for spreading false news like that we imprisoned people during the state of emergency in order to settle migrants in Serbia," said the prime minister.
She admitted that the celebration of the election victory at the SNS headquarters was a mistake considering the epidemiological situation, but also denied that she or the Crisis Staff declared victory over the virus at any time.
Asked if it is time for Serbia to turn to the EU or China for help in view of the epidemiological situation, the Prime Minister said that the situation is critical, but not such that "we cannot deal with it".
"Where the capacities are full, we open temporary hospitals. The intention is that the numbers start to decrease," said the Prime Minister, but she also linked the increase in the number of infected people in Belgrade and Novi Sad to the holding of protests last Sunday.
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