The Director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, has expressed his disappointment with the attitude of some in the country in the face of this epidemic, and warned of even more stringent measures should such behaviour continue.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of March, 2020, Health Minister Villi Beros lost his nerve for the first time since witnessing the unfolding of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. He certainly had a reason for this because the news spread that medical professionals didn't have masks of the same quality as politicians. But other information emerged, which he called false.
The numbers for coronavirus in Croatia took off at an unprecedented speed. It took a month from the first person to become infected with the virus, few would then have predicted that the figure would reach 442 within a mere 30 days. It is excellent that 22 of those coronavirus patients have completely recovered. But unfortunately it did take the life of someone else, too.
"If you'd asked me about this on February the 25th, I'd have been more optimistic about the forecast. We did everything we could do, we introduced some measures and we were the first in Europe, but this virus is unpredictable, it's very complicated and we happen to have the numbers we now have, but it's still good considering our environment,'' Krunoslav Capak pointed out in conversation with RTL before adding:
"I'm disappointed with the behaviour of Croats, the measures prescribed by the headquarters are being violated in all possible ways. We're receiving information on breaches [of the measures and of self-isolation] every day, but we urge citizens to help us out, too,'' he stated.
Therefore, even stricter measures can be expected, although the ones we're currently living under are already stringent enough.
"Yes, it's possible for us to ban more the movement of more than two people and stop more than two people going into shops at once. Likewise, we can introduce much stricter controls in cooperation with the police. It seems to me that this is a scenario awaiting Croatia, we need to increase our control,'' Krunoslav Capak asserted.
He also referred to those who were keeping things close to their chests and not revealing that they had been in contact with infected persons, which we have witnessed multiple times now.
"If anyone knows that they've been in contact with an infected person and they've failed to not inform the people they need to, then they're intentionally doing so, which is a misdemeanor," Capak warned, referring to the quarantine imposed on Murter:
"Quarantine is the ultimate measure and in this case it seemed appropriate to epidemiologists. This prevents the further spread of the virus and it's easier to carry that out on the islands,'' he concluded.
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