The Balkan state of Kosovo which has a population of 1.8 million has recorded 54.2 fatalities per million due to the coronavirus. With half of the region’s total population under the age of 25, it has emerged as the deadliest place in the world for coronavirus at the moment, Bloomberg reported. 

Kosovo is just ahead of second-placed Colombia in fatalities recorded due to COVID-19 during the last week. The trend continues if the stipulated period is raised from one week to one month.

Kosovo has a total of 12,981 COVID-19 cases, while 9,085 people have recovered from the disease, 498 people have died.

The Bloomberg report attributes the high number of deaths in the region to prevalent poverty. The report states that Kosovo since breaking away from Serbia has been largely dependent on remittances from citizens who have migrated to other parts of the continent. 

Bloomberg also cites corruption as the reason behind the country’s lack of development in healthcare infrastructure.

Afrim Krasniqi, the executive director at the Albanian Institute for Political Studies in Tirana, talked about Kosovo to Bloomberg and said “At the height of the pandemic, Kosovo ousted its government and fired the health minister and key people for the management of that sector.”

He added, “Kosovo was the only country in the region that failed to apply swift, extraordinary measures to limit the spread of the pandemic.”

The first two confirmed cases in Kosovo were on March 13 according to the Gazeta Express.

The interior Minister Agim Veliu was sacked on March 18 for voicing his support to declare a state of emergency to handle the pandemic reported Kosovo based news outlet Telegraphi.

The Kurti government in charge was voted out of power on March 25. The Government of Kosovo led by Albin Kurti was overthrown and new Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti assumed charge. 

After a premature relaxation of virus restrictions in May, the current PM enforced social distancing protocols in July to control the rising number of coronavirus cases. PM Hoti himself tested positive for COVID-19 and then resumed his work later.

According to Sergei Koryak, the World Health Organisation’s liaison officer in Pristina, there are 140-160 cases a day in the state. The WHO is currently working to increase the testing capacity from 500 a day as it fears that official data has been grossly undercounting infections.

Koryak said, “Laboratories are testing only patients with symptoms, with high temperatures, so potentially some mild cases may have been missed.”