ZAGREB, November 16, 2020 - The introduction of new measures against coronavirus will depend on the number of new infections during the week, and illegal parties will be severely punished, Interior Minister and head of the national COVID-19 crisis management team, Davor Bozinovic, said on Monday.
He called on citizens to report any illegal parties they know about. That is important so that owners of cafes and restaurants that are implementing epidemiological measures are not fined.
"The growth rate is lower than a few weeks ago. If we do not see a decline this week, then we will consider new measures that could refer to limiting gatherings, reducing working hours of some businesses, working from home and working in shifts," Bozinovic said.
Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,313 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 33 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Monday.
Talking about public gatherings that were approved by the COVID response team (Feast of the Assumption, Remembrance Day in Vukovar), Bozinovic stressed that they were traditional events and it was difficult to expect that they would just disappear, hence it was responsible to create an epidemiological framework for them to be held.
Health Minister Vili Beros said that six or seven weeks ago the number of infections doubled, and when new measures were introduced on October 26, the number dropped in the first week. Croatia is among the seven best countries in Europe in terms of the number of active cases per one million inhabitants.
"If you compare our measures with European measures, we are achieving the same if not better results with milder measures. If everyone adhered to the measures, the results would be much better," Beros said.
The increase in the number of hospitalised patients is the result of an increase in the number of new infections that occurred two weeks ago, he said.
The Health Ministry's call centre for oncology patients received over 720 calls by this morning, and more than 90% were about Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital, which confirmed that a new process needs to be established to provide healthcare for those patients in other hospitals in Zagreb.
Deputy head of the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ), Marija Bubas, said that talks were underway with some counties to conduct targeted testing with antigen tests due to a large number of new infections, which would help to quickly isolate those infected.
