Prishtina The Effect Of Covid-19 Pandemic in Kosovo COVID-19 IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO BACKGROUND The first two confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kosovo were reported on March 13, 2020. With a significantly increased trend throughout these months, the total number of confirmed cases has reached 15,814 identified cases, out of which 13.856 been recorded as recovered and 630 deceased 1 . Up to this date, the COVID-19 outbreak trajectory in Kosovo includes three stages of development and policy measures. The initial stage of the trajectory started when the first few cases of COVID-19 were recorded and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo decided to close entrances and exits to certain municipalities which confirmed high number of infected cases. The second stage of the outburst trajectory and institutional measures started as cases of infected citizens became evident in most municipalities. As new cases emerged, most of municipalities were in quarantine and adopted preventive and restrictive measures. Following these developments, the second trajectory included new and stricter movement restrictions, social distancing measures, closure of all non­essential businesses, suspension of educational process, and movement and travel restrictions. Gradually, with the decrease on the number of infected people, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo has started to implement the third stage of trajectory, which accounts for new measures which constitute more lenient measures in terms of movement restrictions, bushiness operations, reopening of schools and so forth. 2 Chart 1. Percentage of infected cases based on municipali es Source: Open Data Kosovo 1 http://niph-rks.org/ 2 https://kryeministri-ks.net/qeveria-miratoi-masat-e-reja-per­parandalimin-e-perhapjes-se-pandemise-covid-19/ 5