Beros was asked about the classes following the statement by Education Minister Radovan Fuchs that the beginning of the school year would depend on the epidemiological situation, and the statement by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic that the school year would begin in classrooms.
Minister Beros underscored that there was a task force in the Education Ministry dealing with the matter, and there were two epidemiologists in it.
As long as the virus is here, we should be worried
Asked whether people in Croatia should be worried as the number of new coronavirus cases has exceeded 200 for two days in a row, Beros said that we should be worried and call for responsible behaviour as long as the virus was among us.
"We have had record high numbers for two consecutive days, over 200 infected people, and have reached a 14-day cumulative rate of new infections of 47, which is a considerable number. However, what is still good is that most hotspots are under control, that we know the sources of the infection, that we know their contacts, and the epidemiologists are doing a great job to stop the infection from spreading," he said.
However, he stressed, their efforts will not suffice, so all of us must behave responsibly, especially since a lot of young people, who were on the Adriatic coast, where they "relaxed", are now returning to their homes.
Increase in new cases consequence of expanded testing
It is hard, he said, to say whether the number of new infections would tomorrow grow to 300, next month to 400, but he also said that these numbers "must be a consequence of conducting over 2,300 tests, by far the highest number to date."
"So, with such a high number of tests, it is to be expected that the number of new infections would be somewhat higher. Now we have to keep monitoring the situation day in day out and react," said Beros.
First wave of epidemic and wave in September will not be same
"Many scientists agree that the first and the next wave, expected in September, will not share all epidemiological characteristics, so it is very possible that we will at one point decide to carry out more tests," he underscored.
Asked whether Croatia was a safe country, since only today Great Britain, Germany and Slovenia put it on the red list of epidemiologically unsafe destinations, Beros said that "we cannot run away from our numbers of new infections."
So, he underscored, it is completely legitimate for those countries to take care of their citizens returning from holidays in Croatia, of their country's health status, and even to introduce criteria "that are the limit for adopting more restrictive measures."
Croatia reaches limit with latest numbers of new infections
"We have reached some of the limits with our figures in the past few days and they (the countries) have reacted how they have reacted. However, our idea was to warn everyone and to point out that the epidemiological situation was not the same in the entire Croatia, and there are counties where the epidemiological situation has been perfect in the past month, but there are also counties like Split-Dalmatia and Sibenik-Knin county, which have recorded somewhat worse results," Beros said.
He considers Germany's decision "a good example" as it does not apply warnings to Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties or to continental counties, but only to the hotspots of the infection in Croatia.