Coronavirus kills 2 people in Balkans

By Agim Sulaj and Furkan Abdula

PRISTINA, Kosovo / SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AA) - Kosovo registered its first death from the new coronavirus, a health authority announced Sunday.

An 82-year-old person, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in northeastern Podujevo city, died of the disease early morning on Sunday, the National Institute of Public Health said in a statement.

Two children of the deceased were also infected with the virus, it added.

A total of 567 people have been tested for coronavirus in Kosovo so far, and 31 people, including the deceased, have been diagnosed with the illness.

Also, Health Minister of North Macedonia Venko Filipce announced Sunday the first death from the virus in the country.

Before her death, the 57-year-old female patient tested negative for coronavirus two times, but the test run on her after she died came out positive, Filipce said during a news conference.

North Macedonia confirmed 116 cases so far and it will impose curfew as of midnight Sunday between 9 p.m. (2000GMT) and 6 a.m. (0500GMT).

The virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China last December, has spread to at least 169 countries and regions around the globe, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Out of more than 318,000 confirmed cases, the death toll now exceeds 13,600, while nearly 95,000 have recovered.

Italy, China, Iran, and Spain continue to be the most affected countries.

Despite the rising number of cases, a vast majority of those infected by the virus suffer mild symptoms and recover.

* Writing by Havva Kara Aydin