ZAGREB, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation, the Croatian government announced on Thursday.
It is presumed that Beros became infected during a recent visit to Varazdin, where he visited a hospital. For now, he has mild respiratory symptoms, is feeling well and will be working from home, a government statement said.
The health minister has attended government sessions via video link this week.
At a session of the Croatian government held on Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that the coronavirus situation was serious and that the National Civil Protection Headquarters was preparing a new package of measures.
"Times are demanding. We need the responsibility and solidarity of all our fellow citizens, so I urge us to follow the recommendations and adhere to them as the National Civil Protection Headquarters makes them and will bring them in the coming days," the prime minister said.
In the last three weeks of October, the number of infected people in Croatia doubled almost every week, but the trend stopped in November. In the past few days, the average number of infections in Croatia has been around 2,500 per day, and the number of deaths is on average 35 per day.
There have been 3,164 new cases in Croatia in the last 24 hours, and 17,814 cases remain active, Croatian Institute of Public Health announced on Thursday.
Since the first case was confirmed in Croatia on Feb. 25, the southeastern European country has recorded over 90,000 cases in total, while 1,200 have succumbed to the disease.
As the world is struggling to control the pandemic, countries across the globe -- among them Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are racing to find a vaccine.
Croatia has ordered COVID vaccines from several companies via the European Union, and the delivery of them can be expected in the country as soon as they are registered, Plenkovic said last week. Enditem
