Covid-19: Many counties reporting triple digit case numbers as surge continues

Croatia reported 2,769 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths on Saturday.

Zagreb continues to lead the country in new infections and the number of Covid-19 patients requiring hospital care is on the rise. The capital reported 840 new infections on Saturday and there are more than 4 thousand active infections in the city.

Many counties around the country are reporting cases in the triple digits. Brod-Posavina County set a new local record with 129 new cases. Krapina-Zagorje County had 136 new cases, Međimurje County 149 new cases, and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County 121 new cases.

Vladimir Mićović, the head of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Public Health Bureau, warns that people who will be visiting cemeteries this weekend to mark All Saints Day on Sunday need to understand that crowded spaces raise the risk of infection.

"Let's be respectful towards our dearly departed, but let's also protect ourselves and our fellow citizens," Mićović said.

He underscored that it was important to abide by all three of the key coronavirus prevention measures: mask wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing. Focusing on any one measure alone was far less effective than when all three are combined, he said.

Case numbers in Split-Dalmatia County remain high, 275 new cases on Saturday, while Osijek-Baranja County had a near 50% positivity rate for all of the people tested in the past 24 hours. The county reported 208 new cases. Health authorities are considering open up an auxiliary coronavirus treatment facility at the local sports arena because beds in the local hospital are filling up fast.

Osijek is not the only place where hospitals are seeing a surge in Covid-19 patients. In Zagreb, health authorities have made Dubrava Hospital a dedicated Covid treatment center as of Monday. This has raised questions about whether the health care system can handle not only Covid patients but people requiring care for other conditions. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković believes it can.

"The health care system, despite all of the challenges it faces and thanks to the great efforts of health care workers, is managing to function," he told reporters in Zagreb.

Asked about whether Croatia was considering a curfew to curb the spread of infections as many other countries have done, the PM said that measure never been discussed.

"I don't know why this issue has so much salience with the public. The key in fighting this global pandemic is the responsibility of each and every individual," he said.

Croatia has had more than 49 thousand cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic and the country's coronavirus death toll stands at 536.