There are seven more cases of coronavirus in Croatia, bringing the total to 56, Health Minister Vili Beros said on Monday at the daily news conference of the national civil protection authority.

One newly infected is in Rijeka, one in Karlovac, and five are in Zagreb, including a doctor at the Zagreb University Hospital Centre who returned from abroad and who is hospitalised at Fran Mihaljevic.

The minister said three previously infected persons were now healthy. To date, 835 coronavirus tests have been done, including 15 whose results are pending, and 8,464 people are under supervision, he added.

“We are entering stage three of the fight against coronavirus. It includes the mobilisation of the health system.”

The national civil protection authority is adopting measures based on professional and scientific input and they have yielded results, the minister said, adding that in a situation like this “professionals call the shots.”

“In the media sphere there are now other initiatives and hasty measures, which we understand, and we are acknowledging all suggestions and proposals. However, from the national aspect, we are doing and recommending, based on professional and scientific proposals, everything that is in line with scientific evaluations and with what is being done in the world,” said Beros.

Croatian Institute of Public Health head Krunoslav Capak said about 9,000 people were in self-isolation.

It is important to keep a balance between a good epidemiological situation and the severity and scope of the measures, he said. “It wouldn't be good if we closed everything. Life would stop and things couldn't work. We epidemiologists must propose measures on a daily basis to the (national civil protection) authority and the government which we think have priority.”