ZAGREB (Reuters) – Croatia has tightened measures this week to fight the coronavirus after exceeding 2,000 daily cases over the weekend, by ordering the use of masks outdoors and recommending work from home wherever possible.
Also from this week, Slovenia, its northwestern neighbour in the European Union, will allow citizens to leave their municipal areas only in exceptional cases, after having reported 1,675 new infections on Sunday.
On Monday, Croatia, a nation of about 4 million people, reported 828 infections, down from Sunday’s one-day record of 2,421 new cases. Normally, the number of reported cases falls on Mondays, as a result of less testing over the weekend.
From this week Croats will have to wear masks outdoors whenever it is not possible to maintain the required physical distance.
Public gatherings are limited to no more than 50, with 30 people, at the most, allowed to attend weddings or funerals. Family gatherings can have up to 15 people.
Companies have been urged to organise work from home wherever possible.
Another Croatian neighbour, Bosnia, suffered a spike in virus infections in the past week, with active cases rising nearly 60% to 13,348 on Sunday.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps)
(Reporting by Igor Ilic in Zagreb and Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
