ZAGREB, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian Institute for Public Health (HZJZ) on Thursday reported a record 542 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.
Nearly 6,000 people have been tested in the last 24 hours. Since Feb. 25 when the first COVID-19 case was reported in Croatia, there have been almost 19,000 confirmed cases and 310 patients have succumbed to the disease. A total of 361 people are still hospitalized, with 27 patients on a ventilator.
Due to the sharp rise in new cases, the national civil protection authority met on Thursday with the government to discuss further measures to combat the crisis.
HZJZ head Krunoslav Capak told reporters that new measures are being prepared and should be introduced next week. He said that wearing a face mask will be mandatory indoors as well as outdoors in areas where it is difficult to avoid close contact with others. Limits may also be set on public gatherings. Capak said that the authorities will strictly implement the measures.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), face masks should be used as part of a comprehensive set of measures to suppress COVID-19 transmission and save lives. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, wearing masks in public has been widely accepted in Asian countries like China, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam to limit the spread of COVID-19.
"We will do our best to avoid quarantine and lockdown. Never say never, but we will do everything to continue a 'new normal life'," Capak told reporters. Enditem
