ZAGREB, February 26, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković asked citizens on Wednesday not to panic about coronavirus or buy lots of provisions because "at this moment everything is as it should be."
*Follow this page for updates from Total Croatia News on the coronavirus in Croatia. Contact numbers for epidemiologists, travel advisories and measures for preventing the spread of the coronavirus can be found here.
"Any panic, going on big shopping trips, stocking up, should stop. We are not in that kind of situation or at that stage at all. The government will be 100% transparent in real time as it's discovered that someone is positive or not, and we will inform the public. Everything we know, the public will know," Plenković told reporters.
Although the spread of coronavirus is a kind of external shock, a new circumstance whose effect on the economy no one can fully estimate, the government will do everything so that life goes on normally, he added.
"All services have raised their readiness," he said, adding that quarantine premises were also being provided. "Everything at this moment is as it should be. There's no need to raise excessive panic or do something out of the ordinary."
Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said it was difficult to estimate how the epidemic would impact the Croatian economy due to a lack of key data.
He told reporters the government would do its utmost to reduce the potential impact as much as possible, adding that the impact on tourist arrivals from Italy and other European countries should be taken into consideration.
Marić did not rule out additional state budget allocations to cover the costs of fighting coronavirus.
Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak told reporters everything was under control in schools with regard to coronavirus and that the situation was normal. Recommendations to cancel trips to Italy and abide by hygiene standards in schools remain in force, she added.
More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
*Follow this page for updates from Total Croatia News on the coronavirus in Croatia. Contact numbers for epidemiologists, travel advisories and measures for preventing the spread of the coronavirus can be found here.
