No surge in coronavirus cases after Zagreb earthquake

Krunoslav Capak (Photo: HINA/ PIXSELL/ POOL/ Goran Stanzl)

ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) – Croatia’s COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday that there was no surge in the number of coronavirus cases that could be connected with the aftermath of the 22 March strong quake that hit Zagreb and its surroundings, claiming one life and causing extensive damage.

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, told a news conference that first analyses did not show a higher number of new infections due to the developments in Zagreb on 22 March when larger groups of shocked people fled their buildings to be outside.

Age cohort between 50 and 59 with most positive cases

Broken down by age, of the total of 867 Croatians diagnosed with COVID-19, as many as 187 are aged between 50 and 59. They are followed by those aged between 40 and 49 (165).

In Croatia, 41 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are under the age of 20, and 100 are above the age of 70, Capak said.

He informed the news conference that 50 doctors, 10 dentists, 41 nurses, five pharmacists and seven hospital administration staff were among the positive cases.

Also 1,200 employees in the healthcare system are in self-isolation.

The head of Zagreb’s Fran Mihaljevic Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic, said that currently there were more patients with moderate to serious symptoms and that 32 were on respirators, which was as expected considering the fact that the share of elderly patients with underlying medical conditions and people with chronic diseases was also rising.

She underscored that currently none of those patients on respirators was in a critical condition.