In today's statement for Prva TV, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that a total of 10,000 Serbian nationals will have returned to Serbia by Easter.

Minister Dacic stressed that those returning these days were persons who had lost their jobs abroad.

Half of the citizens returned by plane, and half by bus and car, Dacic said for Prva Television.

He added that there were no more Serbian citizens "stuck" at airports and border-crossings worldwide and that the latest category of persons expressing their wish to return to Serbia were those who had lost their jobs abroad.
"Even they are having dilemmas, it happens that flight capacities end up not being filled up, as some of them have given up. For example, 30 persons failed to show up and board the flight from Dubai on a rationale that it was not worth it to return home, due to self-isolation and quarantine measures", he said.

Diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Serbia have been recording the requests of our nationals for return, which is then followed by our coordination with the Serbian President and responsible Ministries in which course arrangements are made for one flight a day, so as not to deteriorate the epidemiological situation in Serbia.

Minister Dacic also informed about a new trend of our people wanting to return to other countries in which the restrictions imposed due to coronavirus were being relaxed and the life was going back to normal.

He recalled that Serbian citizens were transferred free of charge and that the same applied to the foreign citizens leaving Belgrade on board the flights dispatching to repatriate Serbs. The Minister added that in response to this a number of countries addressed letters of appreciation.

The Serbian Foreign Minister also found that amid the entire situation so far, no-one had seriously considered the consequences of coronavirus pandemic on social relations on a broader scale.
He said that concerns were raised by estimations that certain social distancing measures would remain effective until 2022, which implied that the crisis would not end soon.

The Minister added that the challenges ahead include ways to organize the society and everyday life in the presence of the virus as well as its consequences on working conditions, communication and school activity.

"It is obvious that this state of alertness and measures will remain until a vaccine has been developed and put on the market", Dacic said adding that, in the meantime, the ways in which living and society were organized would be unlike anything seen before.