The minister for veteran affairs in the government of one of Bosnia-Herzegovina's two highly independent regions has died at the age of 53, a week after testing positive for COVID-19.

Salko Bukvarevic died Wednesday in a COVID-19 hospital in Sarajevo, where he was admitted last week with pneumonia and breathing problems.

He had served in the government of the Bosniak-Croat federation since 2015. The region’s prime minister, Fadil Novalic, was also hospitalized with COVID-19 but was released Tuesday following two weeks of treatment.

So far, Bosnia, the Balkan country of 3.5 million people, has tallied over 10,700 virus cases, with 297 deaths.

Nearly 80% of all cases have been registered since mid-May, when a strict, nearly two-month-long, coronavirus lockdown was lifted.