Croatia's Covid-19 case count rose to 382, including 16 full recoveries, Health Minister, Vili Beros, said on Tuesday evening.
This means that over the last 24 hours the number of cases grew by 21 percent from Monday’s 315, a daily increase seen in the past several days, and putting Croatia on the same exponential trajectory experienced by most European countries.
World’s experts expect the numbers to continue increasing at the same rate everywhere until the effects of sweeping restrictions and stay-at-home orders kick in, which should be seen some 15 days after they are introduced.
Croatia had introduced restrictions to enforce social distancing on Thursday, March 19, closing all non-essential stores, ordering individuals to keep a distance between each other of at least 2 metres indoors or 1 metre outdoors, and banning any gathering of more than five people.
But over the next several days, and after the Zagreb eathquake, even stricter restrictions have been imposed, banning any gathering of more than two people, suspending most public transport, and banning any inter-city travel. All international travel had been suspended last week, and borders effectively shut down.
Fines have also been introduced for people violating self-isolation orders, which start at 8,000 kuna (€1,060).
Neighbouring Slovenia reported 480 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, including the country’s fourth death, an elderly woman with underlying health conditions who lived in a nursing home where one of the first cluster of cases had been identified.
Ljubljana government said that ten patients are currently in intensive care at the country’s two major hospitals in Ljubljana and in Maribor.
Serbia confirmed 54 new cases on Tuesday, bringing its total to 303. On Monday, it confirmed its third Covid-19-related death. Serbian army set up a large quarantine facility in Belgrade, on advice of Chinese experts called in to help contain the epidemic. They reportedly told authorities that containing the outbreak might take a month.
Last week, Serbia had banned all inter-city transport, closed most border crossings, and imposed a nationwide curfew.
Bosnia reported new cases throughout the day on Tuesday, and the official count currently stands at 164. Since earlier this month, curfews and other social distancing measures have been introduced across the country. The government announced closure of all airports on March 30.
Montenegro reported 47 cases, including one death by Tuesday afternoon, and North Macedonia, which moved to declare state of emergency last week, reported 148 cases so far, including two deaths.
Worldwide, more than 407,000 cases have been confirmed by Tuesday since the outbreak began in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan. According to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, these include more than 18,200 deaths and about 104,000 recoveries.
The worst hit European country is still Italy, with 61,000 cases and more than 6,800 deaths so far. Spain is now close second, with nearly 40,000 cases and 2,800 deaths.
(€1 = 7.57 kuna)
Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.
