Chinese knowhow in fighting COVID-19 very useful: Croatian experts

APD NEWS

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"We heard a lot of new information which will be very useful," top Croatian epidemiologist Bernard Kaic told Xinhua after a three-hour video conference on Friday between Chinese health officials, experts and their European colleagues.

The video conference was held at the Chinese Embassy here as part of the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (17+1). Chinese health officials presented their latest conclusions on COVID-19, shared their insights on the virus outbreak and offered feasible measures to fight the virus and illness.

Five new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Croatia on Friday, bringing the country's total cases to 32. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that all schools and universities will be suspended for two weeks from next Monday.

Kaic, an epidemiologist of the Institute of Public Health of Croatia, believed that Croatia is at the beginning of the outbreak and that it is very likely that the virus would spread due to travel between Croatia and Italy.

"For the time being, for this number of cases which is quite low at the moment, we do have enough protective equipment, isolation units and personnel, but if it continues increasing, and it is very difficult to anticipate how fast it will increase, we might be in shortage of both medical supplies and medical personnel because we are already close to our limits," Kaic told Xinhua.

Although Croatia is a small country with four million people, Kaic said, tracking contacts of those infected is very difficult. "I really don't know how you succeeded," Kaic noted, referring to China.

He noted that all initial cases in Croatia are imported and the country still hasn't seen community transmission.

Vera Katalinic-Jankovic, assistant health minister, told Xinhua that the video conference was "very useful" and spoke highly of China's effective measures. She noted that there is a lot to learn from the Chinese experience, adding "We know that China has some test kits that could be used in Croatia."

The prime minister said on Friday that Croatia is at war with coronavirus and its consequences to the society and economy. He stressed that the government will introduce economic measures to preserve jobs.

"We will allow postponement in payments of income and profit taxes as well as contributions from salaries. Lower income for municipalities on that basis will be compensated from the state budget," he said at a press conference.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday that Croatian authorities did a great job so far and voiced his support for the latest decision to close schools.