Anyone who goes to Croatia now may have to go into quarantine on return.
The dream of a holiday on the Croatian Adriatic could have been a short one: Slovenia is considering closing the border to its neighbouring country again after several cases of corona imported from there were confirmed. If the number continues to rise, “a quarantine will be implemented for everyone coming from Croatia,” Health Minister Tomaz Gantar told TV channel POP TV on Monday evening.
“As soon as the number of infections in Slovenia increases and it is determined that they have been imported from Croatia or the number of new infections per day remains at a higher level, this country will become a red zone and a quarantine will be introduced for everyone coming from Croatia,” Gantar said. Slovenian citizens who are now leaving for Croatia could be “put in quarantine when they return”, the minister warned. “Given that Croatia is in a dangerous area, this danger is real.”
Rising numbers
In Croatia, the number of daily corona cases has again reached double digits in the past few days, 18 new infections were confirmed on Saturday and 19 on Sunday. Currently, Slovenia still classifies the neighbouring country as safe. This group includes countries with less than ten new infections per day and 100,000 inhabitants in a period of 14 days. Applied to Croatia this means a maximum of 28 new infections per day.
Slovenia had already opened its border with Croatia at the beginning of May, mainly due to pressure from thousands of Slovenian second home owners in the neighbouring country. Since then, there has been brisk border traffic, which is making the authorities in Ljubljana increasingly nervous, especially as Croatia is also attracting more holidaymakers from other European countries such as Austria. Already last week the Slovenian government had revoked the relaxation of the border regime with countries like Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina because of cases imported from the Western Balkans.
During the visit of his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Ljubljana yesterday, the Slovenian Foreign Minister Anze Logar emphasised the determination to tighten the border regime “promptly” again, if necessary. “In the event of a new outbreak, Slovenia can always put the handbrake on and close the border to the affected country again,” said Logar.
— Hector Pascua
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