This year Christmas in Albania came differently, with prohibitions of gathering with more than 10 people, and with the curfew in place from 20:30 to 06:00. With the pandemic continuing to hit record new infections and death numbers all over the world, the restrictions have been seen as a necessary measure to stop the spread of the pandemic. Christmas, and especially the New Year’s Eve, are among the most celebrated festivities in the country, and the fear that big family reunions would have been followed by high numbers of new infections, lead the Albanian Committee of Experts to introduce new measures from yesterday, which coincided with the Christmas Eve.
On Christmas day, there were 553 new reported cases with COVID-19 in Albania, and 514 recoveries. While in the last days the numbers of new infections have been slowing down, the national death tally is now 1,134, and 309 patients are being treated in 4 different hospitals. The Minister of Health has urged on various occasions the citizens to celebrate in an intimate way, to slow the spread of the virus. Yesterday, even President Meta asked Albanians to be cautious during festivities, to limit their movements in order to limit the spread of the virus.
