The City of Zagreb has obtained 17,850 rapid antigen tests for its 60 social welfare institutions, the head of the Zagreb department for social policy, Romana Galic, said on Tuesday.

Of those 60 institutions, 41 are old age homes, and the remaining 19 are institutions for providing care to people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups of citizens, Galic said.

She explained that this had been the first batch of the rapid coronavirus tests which should be used in a period of one month, and the Zagreb authorities hope that they will be provided with additional quantities of those tests.

Testing of staff working in retirement homes and beneficiaries is a manner to prevent the spread of this virus in those institutions, she added.

Currently, there are 196 beneficiaries from 11 old-care homes in Zagreb who are positive for coronavirus. Of them, 22 are receiving hospital treatment, about 50 beneficiaries, who have contracted the virus, are without symptoms and others are with mild symptoms of the Covid-19 disease.

Also, currently 75 employees from Zagreb’s old-age homes are positive for the virus, and an additional 38 are self-isolating.

Galic said that about 75% of beneficiaries in Zagreb’s social welfare institutions have said that they are willing to undergo testing, while 36% of the staff have expressed readiness. Also, a marked portion of the staff have recovered from the infection, she said.