As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of April, 2020, the Croatian Minister of the Interior, Davor Bozinovic was a guest last night on Nova TV, where he spoke about loosening the stringent anti-coronavirus measures Croatia now firmly has in place.
He said that he was constantly balancing things between more restrictive measures and loosening those same measures.
”It’s all dependant on the epidemiological situation in the country. We have a trend where the number of patients isn’t growing exponentially, it’s growing linearly, and it is important that we try to maintain this trend. It would be great if the number of patients dropped for a few days, in that case, we’d probably go for some additional relief [of the measures]. But that’s something that is estimated on a daily basis,” Bozinovic said.
He stated that there were still violations of the prescribed measures taking place. ”It was some sort of catering facility in Karlovac that was open and was discovered and reported by the police to the State Inspectorate. It has now been closed down and the owner has been fined,” he said.
He recalled the fact that it is crucial that everyone adheres to the measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus prescribed by the Civil Protection Headquarters.
“Everything we do depends on the people. We can prescribe whatever we want to prescribe, but people have to stick to the measures. Most people have taken things seriously. This is the only way to get out of this situation. There are those who are violating self-isolation measures, that’s the biggest issue. These people could potentially be infected and spread the infection to the people around them,” Bozinovic said.
The minister also warned that so-called ”coronavirus profiteers”, who have kuna symbols in their eyes and are seeing some sort of macarbe opportunity to exercise their ”get rick quick” plans would be sanctioned.
“We’ll be very rigorous in regard to whoever wants to use this situation to get rich unfairly. The institutions are all involved with that – the tax inspectors, as well as the police. That’s the way it is now, and it will remain that way in the future,” he announced.
He remarked on Davor Bernardic’s statements, saying that this isn’t the time for such skirmishes.
“He first criticised the headquarters for failing to introduce rigorous measures several times. He is expected to be consistent as the leader of the opposition party. This is not the time for fights. Everyone should be giving their efforts to this to the maximum,” he explained.
In regard to abolishing the current measures, he said that the reduction in new coronavirus cases is a sign that we’re now on the right track.
“Until we know how this virus can be stopped either by the production of a drug or by vaccination, it’s possible for it to keep being exponential. If a focal point [of infection] isn’t immediately dealt with, we can expect a greater increase in the number of those infected. That’s why it is important that this situation isn’t underestimated, that no one underestimates it for themselves, their family and the environment in which they work,” Bozinovic explained.
He then discussed the robberies that have been talked about in recent days, stating that he has received a report from the police that these situation are declining. “There’s probably crime that isn’t being reported in this situation to the extent that it would have been earlier, but I think the situation in Croatia is stable. The police are engaged in all lines of work including this for the coronavirus and I don’t expect this to escalate,” he added.
He sent a message out to pranksters to refrain from making epidemic-related jokes on April the 1st. “People can joke around, but they mustn’t spread that some measure has been abolished, that people can go out and walk around outside, that can be dangerous. People can joke, but not on the subject of coronavirus,” Bozinovic concluded.
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