The purpose of the new epidemiological measures is to encourage citizens to reduce their social contacts in order to lower the number of coronavirus infections and the pressure on the public healthcare system, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Bozinovic said that in the past week the national coronavirus response team had adopted two decisions at the national level and eight at the county level. The counties with a poor epidemiological situation recommended tougher measure for their respective areas or for specific towns and municipalities, he added.

Speaking of the enforcement of the restrictions, Bozinovic said that state inspectors, civil protection staff and police officers had carried out 2,801 inspections and issued 19 infringement complaints for violations of epidemiological measures and four criminal complaints against people who with their behaviour had contributed to the spread and transmission of the infection.

As for protective equipment, Bozinovic said that it was issued to local coronavirus response teams and medical institutions on a regular basis. He said that at this point there were 12.1 million articles of protective equipment stored in civil protection warehouses and that the equipment was regularly replenished.