Alarm is growing in Bosnia over the escalating coronavirus crisis in the Sarajevo canton, which has recorded the highest rate of cases and deaths in the Western Balkans.
In the two weeks to March 14, the canton of Bosnia’s capital registered 1,763 cases and 31.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
On Sunday, local media reported that 90 funerals were held in just four days in Sarajevo.
The number of daily deaths is double the high of 335 registered in March last year, an early peak of the pandemic.
“The death toll in Sarajevo in March has never – except maybe during the [1992-1995] war – been higher,” a local news website reported.
Nearly two months after the European Union started its vaccination campaigns, four out of six countries in the Western Balkans have yet to begin.
With climbing coronavirus cases and no clear timeline on when vaccines from the COVAX mechanism and EU procurement scheme will be delivered, many countries have been looking towards China and Russia for solutions.
The moves come as wealthy nations have been criticised for taking the bulk of this year’s vaccine supply.
Israel has the highest number of inoculations in the world per capita, followed by the UAE, the UK, Bahrain, the US and EU member states Italy, Germany and France.