"It's up to us to prepare for even the most difficult situations, but also to invest every possible effort every day, at all levels, so that there are as few lives lost as possible," he said in an address to the public because of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 230,000 and killed over 9,000 people in the world.

The pandemic is changing everyday life, but we have no choice and must do everything in our power to save lives and protect the health of as many of our fellow citizens as possible, the prime minister said.

The pandemic which began in China is accelerating and as many people have died in the past nine days as in the past three months, he added.

Citing the example of China to support his argument, he said fighting the epidemic in China is "proof of the effectiveness of rigorous measures."

"Our neighbour Italy, which numbers 20 times fewer inhabitants than China, has more dead as of today, over 3,400 victims and over 41,000 infected. For now, we have 105 infected persons in Croatia and over 12,000 are in self-isolation. Today we also have the first victim among them, although the cause of death is still being determined."

Croatia has recognised the virus as a serious health threat very early, on January 9, a day after China declared an epidemic, said Plenkovic.

"The virus knows no borders and we must know how to defend ourselves in those circumstances. Therefore we were forced to introduce radical measures which went into force at midnight," he added.