September 21, 2020 - As a guest on N1 television, the Director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health Krunoslav Capak announced three new rules for testing and isolation.
Index.hr reports that Capak commented on the current situation with the coronavirus epidemic in Croatia and, among other things, outlined the priorities for testing and revealed the criteria for breaking isolation.
The document is ready; what is changing?
"Isolation will last 10 days. So far, we have had 14 days. The latest data show that a person has significantly lower infectivity after the seventh day. After day 10, the person is not contagious. There is no need to be in isolation for more than 10 days. If they did not have a temperature and symptoms in 24 hours, they can come out of isolation. The exception is severe cases.
As for the testing criteria, they do not change significantly, except that we have introduced pupils and students in dormitories and those who go to schools and colleges of the medical type, who will be treated as the medical staff.
The third important news is that so far, a positive person, a person who has proven confirmation that they have overcome the disease, does not have to go into self-isolation for three months even if they are in contact with an infected person.
Priority groups for testing are the elderly and those who work with them."
Will there be new measures?
"Today, we had 70 new cases, that is not a realistic number. We have fewer cases on Mondays because there are fewer tests on weekends. The number will surely be higher tomorrow. We have had a downward trend for two weeks now, and hopefully, it will continue."
The situation in counties
"There are no significant hotspots, this weekend we had the Gay Pride Parade and Vinkovci Autumn Festival, these are events that need to be followed."
Can you determine the sources of infection with certainty?
"It is usually easy to determine the source of the infection; in some 10 percent, we cannot know it immediately, but it is determined over time. In 90 percent of cases, we manage to find out the source of the infection. It is very difficult to determine if a person became infected in a club or restaurant.
Risky gatherings are weddings, family gatherings, and public gatherings."
About the fatalities
"At one time, at the end of August, we had several new cases. It takes time for a more severe form of the disease to develop and for a person to go on a ventilator and for a negative outcome to occur. Mortality and death always accompany new cases for three to four weeks. We now pay tribute to several patients during August.
People who are hospitalized are those who have more severe symptoms, chronic illness, or some other comorbidity. There are about 2,500 of them, and since the beginning of the epidemic until today, slightly less than 10 percent of those seriously ill have died."
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
