Serbia PM on virus deaths spike, protests

The Serbian Prime Minister announced on Friday the highest daily number of deaths in the Balkan country since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ana Brnabic said 18 people had died and there had been 386 new confirmed cases recorded in the past 24 hours.

That takes the total of COVID-19 related deaths to 352 and more than 17,300 confirmed cases since March.

After two nights of violent protests and clashes with police, peaceful demonstrations were held in the capital Belgrade and several other Serbian towns on Thursday, with only a few people wearing face masks.

Brnabic said people should hold off protesting until the number of infections was under control and warned a number of those who took part in the protest and their family members could become sick following the demonstrations.