On Monday, a day before the COVID certificate mandate in public and state services went into force, 892 rapid antigen tests came back positive, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The high number of newly-detected positive persons once again proves the point and importance of COVID certificates,” Minister Vili Beros said, adding that, without mandatory testing, those people would have spread the infection at work, at home and elsewhere.

“That says enough about the extent of the epidemiological damage we prevented in just one day,” Beros said, adding that according to expert estimates, those 892 tests directly prevented the infection of almost 2,000 persons and indirectly far more.

The minister said one person infected with the Delta plus variant could infect five persons who had not been vaccinated or recovered from COVID.

Croatian Institute of Public Health director Krunoslav Capak said over 60% of adults had been vaccinated to date and a part of the population had recovered, so it could be estimated that those 892 positive tests prevented the infection of 1,784 persons.

Beros said people who refused to get vaccinated were the reason why “we have to adjust the system, human and material resources, and set aside precious time which we could dedicate to the patients in need.”

COVID certificates are a key tool in the protection of people’s health and lives, notably the health system, Beros said, adding that the goal was to reduce the burden on hospitals so that non-COVID patients could have access to healthcare.