Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

With regard to the announcement of the Federal Ministry of Health, we transmit the following notice:

On December 31, 2019, a cluster of people with pneumonia of unknown cause in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, was reported to the World Health Organization. The patients showed symptoms of elevated body temperature, difficulty breathing, and the disease was diagnosed as viral pneumonia.

A new coronavirus (COVID-19) has been identified that has not previously caused disease in humans.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which can cause disease in humans and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats and bats. Rarely, coronaviruses circulating among animals can evolve and cause infection in humans, as happened with MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

After that, an epidemic began that affected other parts of China, and cases outside of China are also being identified, in several countries in Asia, but also in Australia, Europe and North America. The first cases in Europe were confirmed in France on January 24, 2020. The situation is changing daily, and you can find out more here LINK World Health Organization (WHO).

Human-to-human transmission of the virus has been confirmed, but more information is needed to fully understand how the infection is transmitted.

On January 30, 2020, the Director General of the WHO declared the new coronavirus epidemic an extraordinary public health event of international importance. A day later, in accordance with the Law on Health Care, the Crisis Headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Health was formed to take measures to protect the population from the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Federal Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Institute for Public Health of the FBiH and cantonal ministries of health and public health institutes, as well as the Border Police of BiH and the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH intensively coordinates and implements measures aimed at preventing and early detection of a possible case diseases caused by the new coronavirus, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

In this context, at the border crossings, in cooperation with the Border Police of BiH and the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs, a targeted "entry screening" is carried out for passengers coming from the territory of China, in the sense that the passengers fill out a sanitary questionnaire, and the data on the entries are submitted to the competent health institutions , and give recommendations to travelers. A notification and further action mechanism has been established in the event that at the border crossing it is established that a person coming from the territory of China has any of the symptoms that could indicate a disease caused by the new coronavirus. Also, foreign and BiH. citizens with permanent or temporary residence in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who return from the territory of China, are placed under medical supervision in cooperation with the competent inspection bodies and public health institutes. From 24.02.2020. these measures also apply to travelers from Italy, South Korea and Iran.

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted on 31.01.2020 Information on the appearance of the new coronavirus, and made a set of conclusions, including that the new coronavirus should be considered an infectious disease, the prevention and control of which is of interest to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with Article 8 of the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases.

Also, on the same day, after the original Coordination Body, in order to increase operability, the Crisis Staff/Headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Health was formed, and an order was issued for the coordination bodies to grow into crisis staffs and activate preparedness plans for the actions of competent institutions in the canton area. The measures for health institutions prepared by the Institute for Public Health of the FBiH were also delivered to the cantonal institutions.

Competent institutions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are in constant contact with the aim of implementing intensified epidemiological surveillance, and the recommendations of the World Health Organization are being followed.