The COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia was a part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. The virus was confirmed to have reached North Macedonia in February 2020. The initial contagion in the country was mainly connected with the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy as there are circa 70,000 residents of Italy from North Macedonia and resulted in many people returning to North Macedonia, bringing the virus with them. As of 9 July, over 7,000 cases have been confirmed in the country, due to its second wave caused by family reunions during Eid al-Fitr among the Muslim minority and the overall re-opening of the country to organize the parliamentary elections.
Background On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case-fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly higher, with a significant total death toll.
Timeline with all events
February 2020 On 26 February, North Macedonia confirmed its first case of SARS-CoV-2, a 50-year-old woman that got tested at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Skopje. She had been in Italy for a month and was sick for two weeks. Upon returning to North Macedonia, she immediately reported herself to the clinic. This case was isolated and didn't lead to further infections.
March 2020 On 6 March, two more cases were confirmed positive: a married couple from Balanci, Centar Župa, who were residents of Brescia, Italy, and presumably returned to the country out of fear of the virus. They entered North Macedonia on 27 February and went to the clinic in Debar on 2 March. They were not initially tested for SARS-CoV-2, but when their symptoms were getting worse, they were tested on 6 March. After getting positive results, the couple was transferred to the Clinic in Skopje to be taken care of.
On 9 March the number of infected people in the country increased to 7 - three family members of the cases registered on 6 March and Nina Caca Biljanovska, the director of the Clinic for Skin Diseases in Skopje. Biljanovska's incident caused controversy, as she did not self-isolate after returning from a vacation in Italy. Moreover, she had continued going to work and was a speaker at a conference attended by 100 people before getting tested. The Minister of Health subsequently fired her.
On 10 March, after a formal request from the mayor of Debar (the city where 5 of the 7 cases were found) and the controversies regarding Biljanovska the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia implemented more reliable measures to prevent further spreading of the virus, including temporary two-week closure of all education institutes (from kindergartens to universities), the prohibition of travelling to the most infected countries (China, Korea, Italy, France, Germany, etc.), the ban of all public events and closure of sports events to the public. Later that day, the first case was confirmed to tested negatively on the repeated coronavirus test. The patient, however, is still recovering in the hospital.
On 11 March two more cases were confirmed positive, both from Debar. They are related to the first cases registered in the town.
On 13 March four more cases were confirmed positive. As all 4 were from Debar, the Government declared a state of emergency in the municipalities of Debar and Centar Župa. All movement inside and outside the two quarantined districts was banned; only people living there were allowed to return to their homes. Later on, President Pendarovski made a decision on the engagement of the Army in affected areas in Debar and Centar Župa. Also, it was announced that entries of foreign nationals to the country arriving from 'high-risk countries' would start getting denied.
On 14 March, 8 people were tested for coronavirus, 6 of which returned positive (5 from Debar and one from Skopje returning from a trip to Barcelona, Spain). A total of 14 of the patients were hospitalized at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Skopje, while the 5 new cases from Debar remained in the local hospital.
On 16 March, 7 persons (5 officially) were positive (4 from Debar, 1 from Skopje and two tested in a private clinic). The patient in Skopje had just returned from a trip to the Netherlands via Vienna, the two additional cases tested positive in the private Žan Mitrev Hospital. They got retested by the public laboratory the following day, and their positive results got confirmed. Because of the increased number of cases, both domestically and globally, the Government of North Macedonia decided to close the two international airports (Skopje and Ohrid) and ban foreigners from entering the country. The ban does not affect diplomats and medical personnel (which are required to obtain permission from the Ministry of Interior) and truck drivers.
On 17 March 5 new positive cases were confirmed - 4 in Debar (two nurses and two doctors, one of whom was Arben Agolli, former mayoral candidate and political activist) and one in Skopje, raising the number to 32. Political leaders decided to postpone the early parliamentary elections scheduled for 12 April.
On 18 March, 4 new cases were confirmed positive, all of them Macedonian citizens from Skopje coming from Belgium Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski announced that the Government is considering declaring a State of Emergency in the country, something that had never happened before. The State of Emergency was officially proclaimed by the President later the same day, and following this event, since the Parliament was dismissed, the Government gained legislative and executive power. Later that day 7 more people were tested positive on the virus (4 in Skopje and 3 in Debar).
On 19 March, 6 new cases were confirmed positive: 3 in Debar, 1 in Skopje, 1 in Gostivar, and 1 in Štip. The case from Gostivar is a Macedonian citizen coming from Switzerland, the case from Štip is a 4-year-old that got infected at a kindergarten in England and the rest are domestic citizens related to previously confirmed cases.
On 20 March, 19 new cases, all of them in Skopje, were confirmed positive. 17 of them were tested at the private Žan Mitrev Hospital. With this outbreak, Skopje surpassed Debar in the number of confirmed cases. Later the same day, 3 people tested positive (2 in Skopje and 1 in Štip). One of the people from Skopje said that she had travelled to Serbia before she was confirmed positive. Again, later the same day, 6 new cases tested positive (4 in Skopje and a married couple in Kavadarci).
On 21 March, 9 new cases were confirmed positive: 7 in Skopje and 2 in Štip. Later the same day the Government imposed a curfew as a protection measure against the virus outbreak. The curfew will be in the place everyday starting 22 March from 9 p.m. to 6 am.
On 22 March, 29 new cases were confirmed positive: 22 in Skopje, 3 in Štip, 2 in Debar, 1 in Ohrid, and 1 in Kumanovo. On 22 March, North Macedonia recorded the first fatality, а 57-year-old woman from Kumanovo that was confirmed positive to the virus postmortem.
On 23 March, 22 new cases were confirmed positive: 15 in Skopje, 4 in Debar, 2 Kumanovo, and 1 in Ohrid. The same day the second death was confirmed, a 63-year-old man from Debar that was hospitalized in Skopje on 17 March, reportedly his situation was stable, and he suddenly got in a bad state in the night when he was attached to a respiratory machine, but that wasn't enough.
On 24 March, 12 new cases were confirmed positive: 7 in Skopje and 5 in Kumanovo.
On 25 March, 29 new cases were confirmed positive: 20 in Skopje and 3 in Kumanovo, 3 in Veles, 2 in Prilep, and 1 in Debar. The same day the "Patient zero" of the outbreak in Debar, the wife of the couple from Balanci that tested positive on 6 March was confirmed as the third death case. She was 66 years old.
On 26 March, 24 new cases were registered positive: 15 from Skopje, 4 from Kumanovo, 2 from Debar, and 1 from Ohrid and Štip each, as well as the first case from Tetovo. 2 patients recovered.
On 27 March, 18 new cases were registered positive: 11 from Skopje, 4 from Prilep, 2 from Kumanovo, and 1 from Tetovo.
On 28 March, 22 new cases were confirmed positive: 9 in Skopje, 3 in Kumanovo and Struga each; 2 in Tetovo, Prilep, and Debar each; and 1 in Bitola. Also it was confirmed the fourth death case, a 66 years old woman from Struga.
On 29 March, 18 new cases were confirmed positive: 6 in Štip, 3 in Skopje, 3 in Veles, 2 in Struga, 1 in Strumica, 1 in Debar, 1 in Tetovo, and 1 in Gevgelija. Also two new death cases, a 31-year-old and 91-year-old men were confirmed today.
On 30 March, 26 new cases were confirmed positive: 19 in Skopje, 3 in Kumanovo, 1 in Prilep, 1 in Tetovo, 1 in Debar, and 1 in Kriva Palanka. The seventh death was recorded, a 79 years old man from Debar, while 9 patients recovered (8 from Skopje and 1 from Debar).
On 31 March the Ministry of Health announced 44 new cases: 23 in Kumanovo, 11 in Skopje, 5 in Tetovo, 2 in Prilep, 2 in Struga, and 1 in Prilep. A 45-year-old man from Kumanovo and a 78-year-old man from Debar, both with pre-existing conditions, passed away. Up to that day 3,518 tests were made.
April 2020 On 1 April the Ministry of Health announced 25 new positive cases: 7 in Kumanovo, 7 in Skopje, 4 in Tetovo, 3 in Bitola, 2 in Struga, 1 in Gevgelija and 1 in Kočani. A 64-year-old woman from Struga with pre-existing conditions, passed away. It was also discovered that a 66-years-old woman, also from Struga, who had died a day before tested positive on the post mortem test. 5 patients recovered as well.
On 2 April, 30 new cases were registered positive: 12 in Skopje, 9 in Prilep, 8 in Kumanovo, and 1 in Kriva Palanka.
On 3 April, 46 new cases were registered positive: 23 in Kumanovo, 13 in Skopje, 2 in Debar, 2 in Veles, 2 in Gevgelija, 2 in Tetovo, 1 in Prilep and 1 in Gostivar. One more death was also confirmed: a 68-years-old man from the villages around Tetovo. In the evening, another suspected fatality was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19, a 70-years-old man from Kumanovo.
On 4 April, 53 new cases were registered positive: 14 in Struga, 13 in Skopje, 8 in Kumanovo, 6 in Kočani, 5 in Štip, 2 in Prilep, Tetovo and Gostivar each and 1 in Veles. Also five new death cases were confirmed.
On 5 April, 72 new cases were registered positive: 21 in Kumanovo, 14 in Skopje, 11 in Tetovo, 9 in Prilep, 7 in Kočani, 2 in Kruševo, Bitola and Radoviš each, 1 in Struga, Veles, Gostivar and Štip each. Also, one new case was confirmed dead, a 63-year-old man from Struga. Later the same day the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of North Macedonia corrected the previously announced numbers by cities in the term that one case from Gostivar is a citizen returning from Slovenia quarantined in Gostivar but lives in Strumica and one case from Tetovo is a citizen returning from abroad who is quarantined in Tetovo but lives in Radoviš.
On 6 April, 15 new cases were registered positive: 8 in Kumanovo, 4 in Skopje and 1 in Tetovo, Struga and Štip each. Also it was confirmed three new death cases: a 69-year-old and 65-years-old men from Tetovo and a 40-year-old man from Kočani. 6 patients recovered as well.
On 7 April, 29 new cases were registered positive: 15 in Skopje, 7 in Kumanovo, 3 in Struga and Kočani each and 1 in Prilep. It was also confirmed 5 new deaths: a 52 and 53-years-old men from Kumanovo, an 81-year-old woman from Štip, a 65-year-old woman from Struga and a 62-year-old woman from Tetovo. Later that day, it was confirmed one more death. A 45-year-old man from Skopje heading towards the City General hospital "8th September" for treatment.