Croatia is not in quarantine, and that’s extremely important to point out. People can leave their houses amid the coronavirus pandemic, but not their cities/counties/towns of registered permanent residence. People are free to leave their houses to go to pharmacies and the food stores which remain open as they’re of course classed as essential.
What people cannot do, is gather together, wander and sit around aimlessly on benches, on streets or in parks. Social distancing, however it may sound to some, appears to be an effective way of controlling the spread of coronavirus.
Across Facebook, there have been countless posts from people asking if lockdown was over now, because of the amount of people running, jogging, walking and appearing to have very normal family days out in parks. This has unfortunately been especially true in Zagreb, where, ironically, the most coronavirus positive patients are located.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of April, 2020, in the face of people continuing to break the rules, the National Civil Protection Headquarters has warned that there has been no relaxation to the country’s stringent anti-epidemic measures, because any failure to comply with the instructions will only prolong this less than ideal situation and put people’s health and in some cases, lives, at even more risk.
As Jutarnji list has unofficially reported, in the next few days, there will be increased control of all areas where the gathering of more people has been recorded.
Failure to adhere to the measures which are firmly in place, for which violations are punishable, more specifically, failure to reduce the crowds on popular promenades, picnic areas and parks would result in the complete closure of such areas, which, in Zagreb in particular, would mean the closure of Bundek, Jarun and even Sljeme.
Make sure to follow our dedicated section on coronavirus in Croatia for rolling updates and important information.
