In the past 24 hours 2,900 coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia and a record 79 COVID patients have died, Health Minister Vili Beros said on Tuesday.

 “A high number again. If we compare it with the number within a week, it is markedly higher. Then we had 2,323,” he said at a videoconference with county heads, adding that the 75 dead was a very high number pointing to the danger of the disease.

In the past 24 hours 9,668 persons have been tested. Currently 46,830 people are self-isolating and 2,351 patients are hospitalised, including 245 on ventilators.

“That's an extreme burden on the health system and we are managing to respond to these challenges only thanks to our preparations. This only underlines how important it is to try to reduce the number of infections with our measures.”

The minister said Varazdin, Medjimurje and Krapina-Zagorje counties had the highest incidence rates, with over 1,400 new cases per 100,000, while Istria, Dubrovnik-Neretva and Pozega-Slavonia counties had 700.

As for the the share of positive tests, Beros said it ranged from 36% to 44.51%, the highest being in Varazdin, Medjimurje, Krapina-Zagorje, Lika-Senj and Koprivnica-Krizevci counties.