

A man wearing a protective face mask in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lock-down due to the new coronavirus outbreak, 23 February 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/Andrea Fasani

Croatian officials announced on Tuesday that a man who recently returned from Milan in Italy has become the first confirmed coronavirus case in the country.

“Today at 11.50 we got test results for a Croat who was staying in Milan. He shows milder signs of the illness,” Health Minister Vili Beros told a press conference.

“It is a disease that is similar to the flu and no bigger complications are expected than in the case of the flu,” Beros said.

“The health system is ready,” he added.

Meanwhile nine Croatians who were working at a factory in Italy where 20 people were infected were admitted to hospital in the city of Rijeka overnight and placed in precautionary isolation because they might have been exposed to the virus.

PVRH @AndrejPlenkovic: Rezultati testova su pokazali da imamo prvog pacijenta s #coronavirus, a nalazi se pod nadzorom u Zagrebu, u Klinici za infektivne bolesti “Dr. Fran Mihaljević”. Radi se o mlađem čovjeku koji ima blage simptome, izoliran je i njegovo je stanje stabilno. pic.twitter.com/BQV0yz7m9R — Vlada Republike Hrvatske (@VladaRH) February 25, 2020

There are no other confirmed coronavirus cases in any other Balkan country so far, but proximity to Italy, where there has been a major outbreak, has caused concerns.

Outside the region, two Serbian citizens on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which has been in quarantine in Yokohoma in Japan since February 3, have been confirmed as infected.

The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that both the infected Serbs, aged 29 and 30, are crew members on the cruise ship.

There are nine more Serbian citizens on the Diamond Princess, while three others left the ship last week after their test results came back negative.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said on Tuesday that it was realistic to expect that the coronavirus will appear in Serbia as well, but insisted that the country’s health system is fully prepared.

Croatia and Serbia have already instituted checks at their borders and airports on passengers from and to China and Italy, and have banned school excursions to Italy. They have also advised all their citizens not to travel to affected areas in Northern Italy.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro have issued similar advice.

“If people must go to the infected areas, they are obliged to report to the border police for inspection after they return to Montenegro. They will be put under observation,” the director of Montenegro’s Institute for Public Health, Boban Mugosa, said on Monday.

People arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Federation entity, where the capital Sarajevo and its international airport are located, from China, Italy, South Korea and Iran are being subjected to screening on entry and must complete a questionnaire.

The Federation Health Ministry has also warned Bosnian citizens against travel to all four countries.

Bosnians arriving from China, Italy, South Korea or Iran have been told to self-isolate for 14 days and “report daily to the epidemiological service”, a spokesman for the Federation Health Ministry, Zlatan Persic, told media on Tuesday.



Airport staff check the temperatures of passengers returning from Milan as part of the coronavirus screening procedure at the Debrecen airport, Hungary, 25 February, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/Zsolt Czegledi

Albania meanwhile said that medical teams are on high alert to check travellers from various Italian cities arriving by plane at Tirana International Airport and by sea on the Bari-Durres and Brindisi-Vlore ferry routes.

North Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that none of the country’s citizens who are currently in Italy have been infected, but recommended “increased precautions when travelling to the Italian regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna during this period”.

In Kosovo, two people have tested negative for the coronavirus, while the country’s embassy in Rome said that none of the country’s citizens has been infected there. The health ministry’s committee for monitoring infectious diseases has approved a readiness plan to deal with any domestic outbreak of the virus.

No coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Romania so far but media have reported that 17 people were quarantined on Monday after returning from either Japan, the Diamond Princess cruise ship or Italy. Approximately 1,000 people are also undergoing self-isolation in their homes.

In Moldova meanwhile, the health authorities said the country has prepared a ‘pandemic plan’ and imposed stricter border crossing checks.

Bulgaria has cancelled all flights to Milan until March 27, and has put up signs at Sofia airport about coronavirus precautions. Arriving passengers who display fever symptoms are tested.

Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, the head of Military Medical Academy in Sofia, said people can get themselves tested for infection either there or at the National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.