Serbia imposes night curfew due to coronavirus

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Serbia on Wednesday imposed a night curfew to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

President Aleksandar Vucic in a live televised address to the nation asked people aged above 60 years to stay at home at all times.

The curfew will be in place from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time (1900GMT to 0400GMT).

"We can only overcome this problem with serious measures. You cannot cure cancer with aspirin," he said.

He added that the borders, hospitals and immigration centers will be guarded by soldiers.

The general and local elections slated for April 26 will also be postponed, Vucic said.

Serbia on Sunday declared a state of emergency.

The country also closed its borders to foreigners, while education at schools and colleges were suspended and sports halls and gyms are closed.

Homeschooling programs in Serbia started on Tuesday morning.

Serbia has so far confirmed 83 cases of coronavirus.

The virus emerged in Wuhan, China, last December, and has spread to at least 164 countries and territories around the globe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO has declared the outbreak a pandemic and its data showed there were over 194,000 confirmed cases and nearly 7,900 deaths around the world by Wednesday evening.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is not fatal in all cases and a vast majority of patients do fully recover.