The Croatian government on Friday appealed to citizens to act responsibly and adhere to the epidemiological measures, otherwise the health system, which has its limits, will become overburdened.

This is not to spread panic. The health system is the most vulnerable and if hospitals continue to fill up in this way, then it might happen that we will not be able to provide patients suffering from other illnesses with adequate health care, the government said on Facebook.

It added that having a high number of people infected with coronavirus did not mean that all of them had the same symptoms, as many did not have severe symptoms or had none at all, but every severe case needed hospital care.

The government said that the measures currently in place — keeping a distance, using hand sanitiser regularly, wearing masks — were sufficient to curb the spread of the infection.

It said Croatia’s measures were much more liberal compared with other EU countries that had similar numbers of infections and they wanted it to stay that way.

COVID-19 is a novel virus and as we find out more about it, our perceptions change of what can help stop it from spreading, the government said, calling on the citizens to wear masks when necessary.