There’s an outbreak of respiratory infections caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) in China. Over the course of several weeks, the infection has been confirmed in hundreds of persons, and it is suspected that there are several thousand persons with unrecognized infections. The disease has been confirmed in more than 20 provinces in China, as well as in some other countries in persons who were travelling from the city of Wuhan where the outbreak started. So far, the lethal outcome of the infection was registered in about 4% of confirmed cases.
Given the fact that it is a new virus, and that epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the disease still need to be investigated, the World Health Organization recommends full implementation of containment measures in the focus of the outbreak, as well as the implementation of measures to prevent the spread of infection to other countries.
If you were in China, you may have been exposed to a risk of infection by the novel coronavirus.
We kindly ask you:
– if you have been travelling to the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, or
– if you were in contact with persons affected by a respiratory infection caused by the novel coronavirus, or by an unknown pathogen, or
– if you have been visiting health institutions where cases of infections caused by the novel coronavirus may have been treated, or
– if you have been visiting markets for trade of live or dead wild or domestic animals,
in order to prevent transmission of the infection, but also to protect your health, please take the following measures:
– reduce contacts with other people in your household, workplace or in public places in the next 14 days,
– if you notice symptoms of a respiratory infection (fever, sneezing, cough, runny nose, difficult breathing or other), put a mask on your mouth and nose, increase hand hygiene (wash your hands with warm water and soap frequently), avoid contacts with other persons, use a tissue when sneezing or coughing, and make a phone call to responsible epidemiologist of an institute of public health responsible for the territory you’re living in (the list is provided at the end of this document). The epidemiologist will give you instructions for further procedures. We kindly ask you to follow these instructions completely.
We thank you in advance for your responsible behaviour in the interest of your own health, but also in the interest of the health of all citizens of the Republic of Serbia.
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia
Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut”
For emergency situation for all travellers who are coming from Wuhan region and other regions from China where Novel coronavirus is detected, if they have some respiratory symptoms and fever, please contact phone number 064 8945 235 opened by Ministry of Health.
