Serbia started building a COVID-19 hospital on the site of the Rasina military complex in the central city of Krusevac, defence minister Aleksandar Vulin said.
The hospital, which will have a capacity of 500 beds, should be built within the shortest possible timeframe, Vulin said in a statement on Saturday, after a visit to the site of the future facility.
He noted that after the end of the pandemic the hospital could be used for other purposes.
Earlier this month, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said the country plans to build two hospitals as it braces up for a new wave of COVID-19 infections expected in the autumn. A bigger hospital - with 800 to 1,000 beds - will be built in the capital Belgrade.
The hopsitals will be built in three months, Vucic said, adding the second wave of COVID-19 infections in Serbia is expected to peak around November 1.
Furthermore, Serbia will buy ten modular hospitals with all the necessary equipment, including respirators and scanners.
In the beginning of July, Serbia's military set up a 500-bed field hospital at the multi-purpose indoor Stark Arena in Belgrade, following a rapid rise in the number of people with coronavirus infection over the past weeks.
On Sunday, the country registered 467 new coronavirus infections, based on 10,381 performed tests, and reported eight deaths. Thus, the overall number of infected Serbs has risen to 23,730, while a total of 534 people have died.
At present, 4,568 patients are hospitalised, with 169 of them being on a respirator. / seenews.com
