Although the July 9 protests in several Serbian cities passed in a predominantly peaceful atmosphere, the public is still disturbed by what was seen on the streets on July 7 and 8 – large quantities of tear gas, violence, brutal attacks by the police on demonstrators, even on those who posed no threat. While representatives of non-governmental organizations say that unauthorized use of force by the police is prohibited, some of the protesters have told CINS that police beat them even though they had not participated in the riots.

A seven-month struggle for information on how much budget money was given to MPs in the previous period ended with data for 402 MPs, but not for one familiar name – Parliament Speaker Maja Gojković.

The Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) monitors the development of coronavirus in Serbia and its impact on the lives of people. This is why, since the beginning of the epidemic, we publish official data on the number of people tested, confirmed new cases, hospitalized, people on respirators and deceased. Since we recorded a low number of new cases for couple of weeks in April 2022, from April 24, we will not publish data every day, but once a week.

After a secret conclusion the government enacted on March 15, the National Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Serbia halted public procurement of large quantities of medical equipment – masks, gloves, gowns, protective glasses and other items. Although procurements are no longer publicized, Suzana Vasiljević, an advisor to President Aleksandar Vučić, has told CINS that the procurement of ventilators and other medical equipment is going exclusively through this institution. While the government and the Health Insurance Fund are not answering CINS’ questions, Transparency Serbia’s Nemanja Nenadić says that hiding information is bad because it is about taxpayers’ money, but also about citizens’ trust in the government.

Although health care workers of the Clinical Center Niš in self-isolation were last week notified that they would receive two thirds of their monthly salary, after CINS’ report the Serbian government and the Ministry of Labor have decided that health care workers will receive the full salary after all.

The Serbian government has enacted a Conclusion according to which those who convey information from “unauthorized individuals” regarding coronavirus treatment spread disinformation and can be held accountable for that. The only ones authorized to give information are the prime minister, as the Crisis Headquarters chairperson, and the individuals authorized by said headquarters. The lawyers CINS talked with believe that the state of emergency does not justify measures that limit the free flow of information – especially not information pertaining to human health.

While the Serbian Orthodox Church has ordered priests to abide by the Serbian government’s decisions due to potential coronavirus spread, some of them are still consecrating homes ahead of Easter. Although they see nothing wrong with that, epidemiologist Zoran Radovanović believes that this is a risky practice during a pandemic.

Some 120,000 Serbian travelers had planned to travel abroad in spring 2020, according to data provided by the National Association of Travel Agencies (YUTA). Due to the global pandemic of the novel COVID-19 virus, some 80,000 bookings have already been canceled, while the other 40,000 are also considered canceled after the declaration of a state of emergency. In the first ten days of March, tourism in Serbia suffered damage, too, as 64 hotels were left without more than 35,000 overnight stays.

Out of the 89 health care institutions which CINS journalists asked how many ventilators they had in total and how many were currently available, 58 of them declined to answer or, most frequently, told us to ask the Ministry of Health or the Provincial Secretariat for Health Care. Representatives of the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Dedinje, one of about 30 institutions which did answer our questions, say that almost all of their ventilators are in use at all times.