SKOPJE, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Nationals from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be allowed to enter the borders of North Macedonia without submitting a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test starting from Oct. 12, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said via a Facebook Post on Tuesday.

According to Zaev, this decision was based on the coordination with health ministries from the region.

So far nationals of Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were obliged to show a negative PCR test for COVID-19 before entering or transiting in North Macedonia.

"This decision was taken in coordination with the proposal of the Commission for Infectious Diseases, which confirmed that there is no indication or a high number of positive cases from foreign countries, thus posing low risk to public health," Zaev wrote in his post.

However, the government urges citizens to reduce travel to minimum or travel only when it is urgent and they abide by the necessary protective measures against COVID-19 infection.

Nationals of North Macedonia can enter these countries without the need to present a negative PCR test due to the reciprocity principle, Zaev said.

On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported 225 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Macedonia to 19,096, with 15,645 recoveries and 768 fatalities.

As the world is struggling to control the pandemic, countries across the globe -- among them European nations, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are racing to find a vaccine.

According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Oct. 2, there were 193 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 42 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem

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