Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has tested positive for COVID-19, the Defense Ministry said Saturday in a press statement, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
Vulin underwent a regular test after having contact with one of the state secretaries in the Ministry of Defense, who was recently hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, said the statement.
"The Minister of Defense is feeling well and since there are no symptoms of COVID-19 infection, he is in self-isolation," read the statement, adding that he will continue to perform the duties and adhere to all prescribed measures during self-isolation.
In the past several days, Serbia has been experiencing a surge of new coronavirus cases. As of Saturday, 13,792 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed, with 267 deaths. In the past 24 hours, 227 new cases were confirmed, while two more people died.
On June 23, Serbia's crisis response team ordered mandatory use of face masks in public transportation, and recommended wearing them also in indoor spaces such as post offices, banks, public institutions, markets and shopping malls.
An emergency was declared in the central city of Kragujevac and the southern city of Novi Pazar due to spikes of new infection cases. Serbia had declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 15 and lifted it on May 6.