Covid-19 deaths nearly tripled over the past month

Croatia recorded 43 Covid-19 deaths on Friday, the highest daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic.

Deaths from the coronavirus are surging. On October 13, a month ago, Croatia’s death toll from the virus stood at 330 since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, that number has climbed to 968. Cases are also rising rapidly. They surpassed the 3,000 mark for the second consecutive day today, totalling 3,056. The country tested more than 9,400 people in the past 24 hours, which indicates a test positivity rate of around 32%.

Zagreb continues to lead the country in new infections, 479, followed closely by Split-Dalmatia County with 436. Although case numbers in the capital have been slightly lower in the past few days, the overall trend is still a surge in cases, says Zvonimir Šostar, the head of the Institute for Public Health Andrija Štampar.

"Right now in Zagreb, we have 3,472 active cases, so the numbers are still going up," Šoštar told reporters on Friday.

Split Clinical Hospital is currently treating 122 Covid-19 patients. The hospital only has 170 Covid beds, so local health authorities will be opening up an additional 200 plus beds at another city hospital, Križine, said Julije Meštrović, the chief administrator of the Split Clinical Hospital Center.

"We'll have more beds and more staff to take care of these patients. At the same time, we will have to postpone some elective procedures to reduce their number," Meštrović said.

Varaždin County, with its 170 thousand residents, reported 270 new cases on Friday. Primorje-Gorski Kotar County reported 212 new infections. Brod-Posavina and Osijek-Baranja Counties had fewer than 200 cases today, while the rest of Croatia's counties all had more than 70 new infections.

The national coronavirus taskforce again urged the public to abide by prevention measures.

"Our 14-day incidence per 100 thousand residents is also high and rising. It is currently at 793.4 cases, although we have great variation from region to region, we are in 20th place in the EU. The incidence rate is higher in Poland, Austria, France, Slovenia, Belgium, Lux and the Czech Republic," Croatia's top epidemiologist, Krunoslav Capak, said at the coronavirus task force briefing.

As far as the ability of hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients, Rijeka is at 50% capacity of Covid beds, Osijek is at around 80%, and Zagreb's dedicated Covid hospital Dubrava is at 35%, said Health Minister Vili Beroš. Dubrava Hospital is currently treating 303 patients and it still has some 500 beds that are free.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said curbing the spread of the virus depended on the public's cooperation.

"We can all see what is happening in our neighborhood. If we want to avoid tougher restrictions, and I believe we all do, taking personal responsibility is the only solution," he said.

Public health authorities and the government are looking ahead to the upcoming holiday season and what that could do make the situation worse. It is almost certain more restrictions are to follow if current trends continue.