Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Ministry on Saturday stated that the four Croatians who were in Wuhan where the novel coronavirus was first detected, would be evacuated from China to France in the course of the day and quarantined for 14 days.

The evacuation of the Croatians was organised with the assistance of France and upon their arrival in southern France they will stay in quarantine for 14 days before their return to Croatia, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The ministry also thanked the French and Chinese authorities for assistance in organising the departure of the four Croatian citizens from Wuhan hit by the coronavirus.

On Friday Croatia’s Health Ministry crisis management team stepped up measures to counter a coronavirus epidemic, proposing the establishment of a national crisis management team to coordinate all services in the case of an outbreak of the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus in the country.