August 31, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš believes that removing all COVID-19 restrictions in Croatia is possible but will depend on the number of hospitalizations in the country.
On Monday, Health Minister Vili Beroš held a meeting with the directors of several hospitals and with members of the expert group of the Ministry of Health, reports RTL.
"We discussed topics that are very current, and that is the response of the health system in this fourth wave, that is, in the colder weather in the autumn," Beroš said.
He said that they talked constructively about what they had already learned, all to be ready for autumn.
"The situation is changing. We know how the virus spreads, what the clinical picture is. However, the fact is that more and more people are vaccinated in Croatia. This significantly changes the paradigm of patient treatment," he said, adding:" It was agreed to achieve the collective readiness of the entire health system. This does not mean that we are giving up the centralized approach. We just gained new experiences."
He also spoke about whether measures would be taken according to the number of hospitalized.
"It is exclusively an epidemiological issue; we did not discuss it at the meeting of the expert group. I will repeat my position; although I am not an epidemiologist, I have been in it for a year and a half, and I have developed some of my own thinking. The number of newly infected is absolutely adequate if everyone has the same clinical picture. Then you know that the number of newly infected people reflects the number of hospitalized people, the number of those who will end up on a respirator," said Beroš.
"However, this start of the fourth wave did not turn out like last summer. The clinical pictures were easier. Therefore, the number of newly infected is not relevant. Relevant is the number that will burden the health system, and that is the number of hospitalized and the number of the most severe patients on a respirator. That is more relevant information for me as the Minister of Health. Although looking broader epidemiologically, knowing both the number of newly infected and the percentage of positives among those detected and treated is good.
For now, we will stick to the general criteria. But you can be sure that for me personally, the greatest value of the data is the number of hospitalized, the number of newly hospitalized, and the number of those on a respirator," he underlined.
He said it was possible to scrap all measures.
"It simply came to our notice then. Whether this will happen will depend solely on the behavior of the virus. Because, if the virus spreads, if the number of hospitalized fellow citizens increases… at least I, as the Minister of Health, could hardly give up the measures. The last year we have witnessed that we have the two best elements to fight this disease: vaccination, respect for measures, general anti-epidemic, and those adopted by the Headquarters that regulate behavior. What are these behaviors? These are risky behaviors, and that can generate the spread of the virus," Beroš concluded.
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