Krasniqi: With an average of 50 tests per day Kosovo is from the bottom of European states

Kosovo's deputy head of the PDK Assembly, Memli Krasniqi, has said since the beginning of the pandemic, Kosovo has conducted very few tests, even despite constant calls for this number to increase.

“Since February 8th until yesterday, on 12 April, only 3256 tests have been made in Kosovo. So, on average, only 50 tests per day have been made! This is extremely little! At this rate it is impossible to identify the true level of coronary prevalence in our country. And furthermore, the number of daily tests has increased minimally and still is far from the necessary number that, in the case of Kosovo, should be at least 1,000 tests a day at this stage”, the deputy wrote PDK on his Facebook page.

Krasniqi estimates that health workers have done and are doing heroic work in the first line of war with the invisible individual 19 but, according to him, health personnel can only be helped through increased test number, which is the exclusive responsibility of the Government and the Health Ministry.

Memli Krasniqi's full statement:

A month ago, on March 13th, the first cases of people infected with COVID-19 were identified in Kosovo. To date, 362 cases have been reported throughout the country, 7 of which have ended in death.

Since the appearance of this global pandemic in Kosovo, we have been constantly calling for preventative measures, some of which were delayed without reason and some were not implemented at all. First of all, we've demanded that the number of tests grow markedly, since most countries that had succeeded in halting the number of cases had done massive tests of their citizens. That recommendation was recommended by O BUV and other global organizations that are at the forefront of the fight against the Coronavirus. But even this sincere recommendation, the government did not take into account.

Since February 8th until yesterday, on 12 April, only 3256 tests have been conducted in Kosovo. So, on average, only 50 tests per day have been made! This is extremely little! At this rate it is impossible to identify the true level of coronary prevalence in our country. And to the worse, the number of daily tests has increased minimally and still is far from the necessary number that, in the case of Kosovo, would have to be at least 1,000 tests a day at this stage.

As a comparison, all countries in the region (with the exception of Albania that is on the current trend with Kosovo) have done and are doing much more tests than Kosovo. The following table, according to official sources reported internationally, is evidence of this:

As you can see, with 1808 testing for 1 million people, Kosovo is the region's most recent country. Throughout Europe, a little worse than we are only Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. No other country on our entire continent has done so little testing. So it's the last time the government gives primary importance to testing, because without mass testing there can be no successful fight against COVID-19.

If at least 500 tests per day were done on average, ten times as many as they were, we would have identified more cases today, and our doctors and nurses would have a clearer picture of the coronary distribution. Lack of testing cannot reduce the actual number of cases. Not knowing the true number of cases, then, is much greater the risk of distributing the coronary.

Health workers have done and are doing heroic work in the first line of war with the invisible enemy. They are the most endangered in this war. The best way to help them is to increase the number of tests. And this is the exclusive responsibility of the Government and the Health Ministry. The number of tests is directly related to the efficiency of the fight against the Coronavirus, so nothing reasons government neglect on the issue.