North Macedonia to Start Delayed Census Despite COVID-19 Fears

Despite COVID-19 infections rising, North Macedonian authorities are determined to proceed with the planned start of the national census on Sunday, September 3.

Apostol Simovski, head of the State Statistical Office, said on Friday that everything was now ready for the delayed process to kick off.

"There will be enumerators everywhere and trainings will be organised for them on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so we will have enough time, 26 days [to conduct the operation]," Skopje-based Alfa TV quoted him as saying.

Authorities say they have engaged around 5,500 enumerators all over the country to conduct the operation while a census of the big diaspora, a process which started in March, is being conducted in parallel.

Referring to official Statistical Office data, ALSAT TV reported that more than 190,000 people have been registered so far in the diaspora, as the number of those interested in the census grows day by day.

On Thursday, however, the Ministry of Health announced 760 new infections and 23 COVID-19-related deaths, a number that has caused alarm among some activists.

"I do not open the door", a citizens' initiative, on Thursday called for the boycott of the process, citing the worsening health circumstances.

"Our demands are unchanged: first, a stable epidemiological situation, second, a census with a changed methodology, harmonized with European standards and processing of data with Macedonian software by a Macedonian company, and third, conducting credible local and parliamentary elections in safe epidemiological conditions," news portal Sloboden Pecat quoted the coordinator of the initiative, Ma Marjan Kamilovski, as saying.

While many citizens have raised the problem of unvaccinated census...