Croatia confirms 31 new coronavirus cases, two deaths in last 24 hours

Thirty-one new cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Croatia in the last 24 hours, bringing their total to 1,982, while two patients have died, the national crisis management team told a regular press conference in Zagreb on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 25 have been detected in Split-Dalmatia County, three in Varazdin County, one in Krapina-Zagorje County and one in Osijek-Baranja County.

COVID-19 death toll stands at 50 

Two persons have died in a hospital in Split, bringing the national death toll to 50.

A total of 28,853 people have been tested to date, including 1,231 in the last 24 hours. The average age of the people infected with the novel coronavirus is 51.12 years.

321 infected people are in hospitals, including 19 who are on ventilators, while 727 are being treated at home. 13,390 people are in self-isolation, 280 fewer than on Wednesday.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, 883 people have recovered from the disease.

Markotic: Situation in Croatia very good, pandemic still at its peak

"The situation in Croatia is very good but there is no reason to celebrate," said the head of Zagreb's Fran Mihaljevic Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic, stressing that the pandemic was at its peak and that the crisis was not over yet.

Easing restrictions is important for the normalisation of life, but that does not mean that we can relax, she said in a comment on Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's having announced the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions earlier in the day.

She called for continuing with strict compliance with restrictions that will stay in force and advised vulnerable groups to stay home.

Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) head Krunoslav Capak said that the possible reintroduction of more stringent restrictions would depend on the reproduction number of the novel coronavirus which epidemiologists were monitoring on a daily basis and which depended on the number of new infections in the last four days and the previous average.

"Currently the reproduction number is favourable, at one moment it was as low as 0.4, while now it is around 0.8. That means that one infected person infects fewer than one person," said Capak.

Commenting on the situation in a nursing home in Koprivnica, where the disease broke out on Wednesday and where 28 people - 23 residents and five staff members - have tested positive, Capak said that it was difficult to absolutely control the situation in nursing homes as asymptomatic patients could always spread the disease.

"A number of measures have been adopted with regard to nursing homes and we hope we are maintaining the sanitary corridor between nursing homes and the outside world, however, risks are always possible and that is why I would refrain from assessments as to whether a mistake was made at that nursing home," he said.

As for the findings of an inspection into the case of a nursing home in Split, where seven residents infected with the coronavirus have died, he referred reporters to Health Minister Vili Beros for information.

HZJZ to publish new recommendations on Friday

Capak also said that the HZJZ would publish new recommendations regarding the easing of COVID-19 restrictions on Friday.

Text: Hina

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