Thirty-five new cases of coronavirus infection were confirmed in Croatia on Friday afternoon, their number increasing by 91 in the last 24 hours, the crisis management team said at a press conference in Zagreb.

“The number of persons testing positive for COVID-19 has increased by 35 since 9 am, so now we have 586 positive cases in total,” Health Minister Vili Beros said.

A new cluster was discovered on Friday in the area surrounding the Adriatic city of Zadar, where nine new cases of the disease were confirmed, including two doctors from the Orthopaedic Hospital in the town of Biograd near Zadar along with two additional health workers from the Zadar hospital.

“The situation in the Zadar hospital has been placed under full control thanks to a quick response by epidemiologists,” Beros said, adding that shift work would be introduced in the hospital to prevent any more disruptions.

The Biograd hospital, from which the contagion is believed to have spread, will be fully disinfected and repurposed to admit all future patients from the area, Beros said.

In the neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, 41 new infections were found in the last 24 hours, including a baby. The total number of patients in the country now stands at 234, and four fatalities have been confirmed so far. 

In Serbia, authorities reported 71 new cases in the last day, bringing the total to 528. Eight people have died of COVID-19 in Serbia to date.

Italy records highest daily jump in coronavirus deaths

The number of people who died of coronavirus in Italy has risen by 969, the biggest daily jump since the crisis began.

The total number of deaths now stands at 9,134, according to Italy’s Civil Protection Agency.

There has been an increase of 4,401 cases of coronavirus in the past day, the Civil Protection Agency said.

The total number of recorded coronavirus cases in Italy, including deaths and those who recovered, now stands at 86,498.