Croatia's first three fully recovered coronavirus patients would be discharged from hospital in the next 48 hours, provided that another they come up negative in another precautionary lab test, Health Minister, Vili Beros, said on Thursday morning.
Beros was asked to comment on rumours of a schoolgirl in Zagreb whose mother had tested positive last week. Parents of other children attending the school had notified local media and called for closure of the school.
He replied that the girl had come up negative, and added that in lieu of school closure authorities would visit her elementary school to “check the situation.”
Fake recording goes viral
Beros also commented on a fake audio recording which went viral on social media in the past few days, in which Zagreb’s top city officials are supposedly heard admitting that the “real” case count is much higher than the officially reported 19.
The recording also included discussions of plans to close off the entire city within 48 hours. Zagreb proper has a population of 800,000, accounting for a fifth of the country’s four million population.
After government spokesman had resolutely rejected the fake claims in a press release on Thursday morning, Beros too slammed scaremongering and warned that “stirring up false alarms is a criminal offence.”
As of Thursday, Croatia reported 19 confirmed coronavirus cases, all in people who had been to Italy or their close contacts.
‘We’ll make it’
Italy itself, which is the worst-hit European country, moved on Wednesday to impose measures unseen before in any modern democracy, ordering all businesses except grocery stores, pharmacies, and banks to close.
The unprecedented measures came after the entire country had been put in quarantine to contain the epidemic and all schools, museums and universities have been closed. The restrictions effectively emptied Italy’s traditionally bustling piazzas and world-famous tourist sights, and forced Italians to stay indoors.
“The country needs the responsibility of each one of you, it needs 60 million small great sacrifices. Every one of us need each other. Let’s stay away from each other today, so that tomorrow we can hug each other more warmly, and run faster together. We’ll make it,” Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, told Italians on Wednesday.
Italy has confirmed more than 12,400 cases by Thursday, including more than 800 deaths.
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