ZAGREB, 21 July, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 4,205  tests performed for coronavirus, 4.5%, that is 191 have turned out to be positive, Croatia's national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Wednesday.

Currently, there are 838 active cases, of whom 122 are hospitalised patients including 13 placed on ventilators. Also, 3,409 people are self-isolating.

In the last 24 hours, there has been one more COVID-related death, bringing the death toll to 8,244.

Since the first registered case of the infection with this novel virus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, as many as 2.2 million tests have been conducted, showing that 361,950 people have caught the virus. Of them, 352,868 have recovered to date, including 91 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

Vaccine roll-out developments

Croatia has to date administered nearly three million vaccine doses. Thus, 1.6 million people have received at least one dose of vaccines against COVID-19, and 1,388,674 have fully been vaccinated (1,349,652 have been double-jabbed plus 39,022 who have received a single-dose Jannsen vaccine), and this makes up 41.24% of the adult population.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

July 21, 2021 - Will strict measures in Croatia return by the end of the month? High-risk gatherings are in question. 

Less than two months after most measures were eased, new, stricter measures are increasingly likely to await us in Croatia. As Jutarnji List unofficially learned from a source close to the National Civil Protection Headquarters, new measures are being prepared, which should enter into force before the current measures expire and which have been announced to last until July 31.

Although it is not strictly said what the measures would refer to, it is most likely related to gatherings considered the riskiest for transmitting the virus. After the entire Croatian coast was marked orange a few days ago, which is a kind of warning, the Headquarters seems to have decided to move in the direction of tightening measures to ensure the season lasts as long as possible.

Namely, Jutarnji List reports that it is almost impossible to avoid a larger increase in numbers, and they also do not want to stop the season. Therefore, they are trying to find the best possible balance between the pandemic and the season, in fact, two incompatible poles.

They expect that more tourists will enter Croatia than the local population, so it is unrealistic to expect that some will not be infected. The plan is to prevent large hotspots because this would almost automatically lead to putting Croatia "in the red," and thus, we would become an epidemiologically undesirable destination.

An additional problem is created by the new Delta strain, which has become dominant and spreads rapidly. Although the numbers in Croatia are still stable, on Tuesday, it was about three percent positive compared to those tested, so the epidemic is considered to be under control. However, we are still seeing an increase in those infected.

An additional fear is the complete opening of Great Britain, which, despite the high percentage of vaccinated, is recording a significant increase in the number of patients. Therefore, it can be expected that this number will also increase with the abolition of epidemiological measures.

Some European countries have already tightened the conditions for Brits crossing the border, and Croatia is expected to do the same.

In particular, British tourists will no longer cross the border if they have not been tested. Unlike the current practice of testing only those who have not been vaccinated or have not recovered from Covid, a mandatory test should also be introduced for the vaccinated.

Although the most desirable tourists are vaccinated, the fact is that they can be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, which is a problem in Croatia where vaccination is still insufficient, especially in Dalmatian tourist hotspots.

Experts believe that it would be good for Britons who have not recovered from Covid or have not been tested to spend 14 days in self-isolation in addition to taking the test. But, as Jutarnji learned from a source close to the Headquarters, this is not considered because Croatia would be left without guests. Namely, there is almost certainly no one who can afford two weeks of self-isolation in addition to their holiday. 

Bernard Kaić, head of the Epidemiology Service of Infectious Diseases at the CNIPH, was asked if British tourists were a threat.

"Of course, they are, like anyone else who comes to the country. Many guests enter Croatia, and, logically, the virus is transmitted in a pandemic," says Kaić.

According to data from Tuesday, there were 146 newly diagnosed cases, of which almost 60 percent were in Split-Dalmatia County (34), Zadar County (26), Šibenik-Knin County (11), and Dubrovnik County (15).

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including vaccination points and testing sites, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

July 21, 2021 - Dinamo defeats Omonia at Maksimir in the first match of the Champions League 2nd qualifying round.

Shocked after losing at home to Slaven Belupo to open the new HNL season, Dinamo set off on Tuesday against Omonia looking for redemption and to continue on the road that leads to the Champions League group stage. However, the experienced Nicosia team proved to be a powerful opponent, although Damir Krznar sent out the Croatian champion's strongest lineup.

Fortunately, Dinamo defeated Cypriot club Omonia 2:0 (0:0) in the first match of the Champions League 2nd qualifying round on Tuesday at Maksimir.

Lovro Majer scored the leading goal for Dinamo in the 65th minute. Kristijan Jakić increased Dinamo's lead with a header in the 81st minute. The return match is scheduled for one week, July 27. 

Coach Damir Krznar can be happy with the win and worried about the injured Ademi and Ivanušec. How serious their injuries are will be shown by additional tests.

"Behind us is the first half that we finished with a 2:0 lead, but the game is still going on. Therefore, our advantage is grateful, but we will have to do our best to keep it in the second game, but the aim is to increase ou advantage," Krznar said at the press conference and added:

"Omonia did not surprise us. They did what they normally do, extremely organized in the 4-4-2 system on the defensive; throughout the week, the basic instruction was - be patient. We are a better team, but every team against such teams can have problems. Ademi's injury also contributed to the weaker first half.

Ivanušec is fine, Ademi does not look good at first glance, but we will know more after the examination. He is tormented by his quadriceps and limp, and Ivanušec received a blow to the chest and ran out of air. It's okay now. Ademi did not recognize whether it was from a tackle or the muscle gave way," said Krznar.

The winner of this round will advance to the 3rd qualifying round and play against the winner of Polish club Legia and the Estonian champion Flora, while the defeated teams will move to the Europa League's 3rd qualifying round. 

Source: HRT

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July 21, 2021 -There are 5-6 positive cases at Split Airport every day, the director of the Split-Dalmatia County Teaching Institute for Public Health, Željka Karin, said on the TV program "Good Morning, Croatia" Wednesday morning. 

Split-Dalmatia County was happy to open its doors to guests, but this also led to an increase in the number of infected people. The director of the County Teaching Institute for Public Health commented on the current situation in Split-Dalmatia County, reports HRT.

"We were looking forward to the tourists, but the situation needs to be controlled, so they need to come with COVID certificates. There are also suggestions that they have tests when entering the country, given that the Delta variant predominates not only in England but also Croatia," said Željka Karin as a guest on the show. 

She also pointed out that they have a checkpoint at the airport to control the situation very well both when tourists enter and leave Croatia. 

"At that point, we discover 5-6 tourists a day who have a positive rapid test. So we immediately put them in self-isolation, and we confirm this result with a PCR test. Then, after 10 days, we retake the swab, and the tourist can continue their journey," said Karin.

She referred to the current situation in Split-Dalmatia County.

"The situation is not worrying, but it is not satisfactory either. Our numbers are growing, and the number of hospitalized has increased. Therefore, epidemiological measures should be strengthened because until we get vaccinated, and the vaccine starts to work, the infection will spread," she said, emphasizing the importance of adhering to epidemiological measures and reducing gatherings.

Mate Melvan from Split Airport also spoke about the Delta Variant and the arrival of British tourists for Slobodna Dalmacija.

"The fact is that the British market at Split Airport has always been the strongest, but this year during the spring, many lines that have been operating for years were removed from the flight schedule until July 19. So far, only Croatia Airlines and British Airways have flown several times a week.

After the measures were lifted in Britain, airlines have started to return some of those canceled routes. However, there can be no question of any mass arrivals, because by the end of July we will have only 40 flights from Britain to Split, and in the pre-pandemic years there were more than 100 per week. So, everyone who is now heading to Croatia again still has a bunch of canceled flights, and that is not even close to normal traffic to Split," said Mate Melvan.

As the British can only arrive in Croatia by plane, we should not believe they will spread the Delta variant in Croatia, says Melvan.

"Everything that is now in the flight schedule was agreed and announced three or four weeks ago, and we now have five airlines from Britain and another in August. Some of them have only one flight, and some are just starting to operate in August. That is why there is no panic about it, because about 60 planes land in Split every day, and three or four of them are from Britain, with an occupancy of about 60-65 percent of the passenger cabin," Melvan explained on the fear that the Brits will increase cases. 

The testing center at Split Airport worked from:

Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 16:00,

on Saturdays from 07:00 to 17:00,

on Sundays from 08:00 to 16:00.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including vaccination points and testing sites, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

July the 21st, 2021 - I think it's safe to say that everyone is sick to the back teeth of colours, traffic light systems, and the words testing and quarantine. The advent of the vaccine was supposed to put a gradual but certain end to all of this, and it leaves one wondering when everything will become normal again. Some things make little sense, and Istria being on the ECDC orange list is just one in a long line.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, numerous reactions, but also fears for the height of the summer tourist season were caused by the decision of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to mark the Croatian coast with orange on the now almost Godly coronavirus map.

Protests against the criteria according to which ECDC designates high-risk regions were the loudest of all in Istria, from which experts and politicians said that they had a favourable epidemiological situation and that they were victims of other more irresponsible Croatian counties.

Namely, the ECDC divided Croatia into four regions - northern, Pannonian, Adriatic and the City of Zagreb. There was an initiative aimed at the ECDC to change the criteria and apply to individual counties, but it seems that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control isn't even thinking of changing their current practice. The total lack of logic shows obviously when Istria is placed on the ECDC orange list, when, at the time of writing, there were no new cases, much less hospitalisations or deaths.

''Such a decision was agreed at the level of EU member states last year during the German presidency. Observing each unit separately wouldn't be practical, as it would mean that 1,500 regions need to be treated as being in the European Union, while with this methodology there are 330,'' the ECDC told HRT.

It's worth reminding ourselves of the fact that the ECDC monitors the fourteen-day incidence of new cases of coronavirus infection per 100,000 inhabitants and the percentage of positively tested persons, and according to these criteria, the coastal part of Croatia is shown in orange. Continental Croatia is still very much green.

On the map of Europe, most countries are in green, and in the red are Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Malta and Cyprus, as well as parts of Greece, Belgium and Denmark. Apart from the Croatian coast, parts of France, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Belgium, and the whole of Ireland are also all in orange.

For more, follow our travel section.

July the 21st, 2021 - Terme Sveti Martin recently won a prestigious European Union (EU) label, which is sure to position it even higher on the popularity scale. That being said, coronavirus remains a very real threat to business operations.

As Ana Blaskovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the popular Terme Sveti Martin has become the first Croatian hotel to boast the European eco-label EU Ecolabel as awarded by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development to products and services to encourage innovation for climate neutrality by 2050.

It was handed over to the director of Terme Sveti Martin, Igor Nekic, on Monday by the Minister of Tourism and Sport, Nikolina Brnjac.

"Market research at the global and European level has clearly shown that tourists are no longer looking for things in terms of mass alone, but sustainable and environmentally conscious tourist destinations that will provide them with authentic experiences tailored to individuals. Today, tourists at the European level are mostly looking for active holidays and services provided by health tourism,'' said Nikolina Brnjac.

In order to get their hands on this prestigious EU label, the Ecolabel, Terme Sveti Martin had to meet as many as 22 stringent criteria, from energy efficiency to rational water consumption. Croatia's much talked about national recovery and resilience programme envisions a shift towards ''green'' tourism and the concept of thermal rivieras in the continental part of Croatia, for which it has always been somewhat well known.

"I believe that through the planned investments by the end of 2025, by which time the planned investments must be completed, we will achieve the goal of Terme Sveti Martin becoming the first among many Croatian hotels to bear the EU Ecolabel label, and Medjimurje as one of the first thermal rivieras in continental Croatia,'' said the Minister of Tourism and Sport.

For Croatian tourism, offering a lot to as many guests as possible is currently the very last item on the list of; with the pandemic still an enormous threat and the entire Adriatic coast recently in orange on the ECDC list, the main question is whether last year's sudden end of the season will be repeated and whether it can be prevented at all.

For more, follow our travel section.

July the 21st, 2021 - Croatian nautical tourism took somewhat of hit like the rest of the tourism sector did last year, but it fared far better than hotels and private accommodation did. Could a new law on Croatian maritime domain be the true key for the take off of Croatian nautical tourism's success? Some believe so.

As Novac writes, last year, nautical tourism became the main star of Croatian tourism, which is no wonder, considering that it easily enables the observance of all epidemiological protection measures such as social distancing.

Life with the novel coronavirus

Although almost a year and a half of adaptation to life with coronavirus is now behind us, the epidemiological situation is much better, and we have a vaccine, we believe that Croatian nautical tourism will repeat last year's success and once again show how much of an important part of the overall Croatian tourist offer it really is. Especially if we take into account the fact that Croatian nautical tourism, at least in terms of its income, directly contributes to the development of other selective forms of tourism such as eno-gastronomic tourism, and is especially important for pre- and post-season results.

All this is already known as we know that Croatia has the largest charter fleet in the world, consisting of about 4,500 vessels, and that the consumption of nautical tourists is almost twice the average, according to the latest TOMAS survey, a charter guest spends 183 euros a day.

What we desperately need, says the Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce for Agriculture and Tourism Dragan Kovacevic, is to talk about the key problems of the competitiveness of Croatian nautical tourism. We need to talk about the future, about the new strategy of Croatian tourism which on the one hand should ensure the sustainable development of nautical tourism while preserving our coastline and sea, and on the other hand remove obstacles, especially administrative and legal ones, for stronger investment and overall competitiveness of this sector.

Quality standards

Last year was extremely difficult for everyone, in every imaginable way. The Croatian Government responded in a timely manner and thanks to its crisis measures, we preserved liquidity and jobs. On the other hand, nautical companies are currently struggling and typically don't have enough funds to invest in development, so the sector is being actively threatened by obsolescence and declining quality.

For marinas, on the other hand, the precondition for further development is the transformation into "floating sea resorts" and moving away from the mere function of docking for ships.

"The precondition for this is the new Law on Maritime Domain, ie its amendments that would solve the legal uncertainty and uncertainty that existing concessionaires have, but also create preconditions for new investments and development and increase the quality of service," explained the vice president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

Croatia has more than 30,000 km² of coastal sea, 1244 islands, cliffs and reefs and Croatian nautical tourism, it is an addition to high value-added tourism that prolongs the season and that's precisely why we must not miss this unique opportunity that lies ahead of us.

Croatia nautical tourism fits into the defined reform goals of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 in the context of changing the structure of accommodation capacities, reducing seasonal and territorial concentration and sustainable resilient tourism that has high indirect effects and income.

"As much as 2.2 billion kuna will go to the tourism sector from the NPOO. the Croatian Chamber of Commerce is cooperating in drafting program,e documents, of which 96% are through grant agreements, which is positive because tourism companies aren't ready after having to take out Covid loans and pay interest on moratoriums on leasing and existing investment loans, to enter into new financial commitments, nor into investments in ''green and digital'', which will require a high percentage of their co-financing,'' concluded Vice President Kovacevic.

For more on Croatian nautical tourism, follow our dedicated travel section.

July the 21st, 2021 - Just how is the much talked about Croatian digital transformation actually going? While the pandemic has seen an acceleration in some respects, according to Biljana Borzan, Croatia still isn't anywhere even remotely close to where it should be.

As Novac/Iva Badanjak writes, Croatian digital transformation is something not only desperately needed here, but is one of the European Union's top priorities for the next decade.

The digital transition of society and the economy should lead to new opportunities for businesses and consumers and the development of digital competences and digital jobs. Digital technologies also have a key role to play in transforming the European economy and society to make the EU climate neutral by 2050, one of the goals agreed by Union leaders.

Various Croatian MEPs were asked to give their views and positions of the Croatian digital transformation in relation to that of other EU member states and the rest of the world.

Biljana Borzan, vice president of the Club of Progressives of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, pointed out that according to the digital index, which combines important elements related to the degree of digitalisation such as human capital, infrastructure, the digitalisation of public administration, etc., Croatia is, rather unsurprisingly, slightly below the EU average.

"However, there are big differences within the EU, and the four strongest European countries are all behind the USA in terms of digitalisation, but the EU as a whole is behind a large number of countries such as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada or New Zealand,'' added the Borzan.

When asked what needs to be done in order to further encourage the Croatian digital transformation, Borzan believes that it is necessary to provide quality infrastructure across the Republic of Croatia.

"Although a large number of households in Croatia have access to the Internet, there are very big differences between urban and rural areas. In addition, Croatia has not come far in preparing for future technologies, and as far as the 5G network is concerned, only one single test has been conducted so far. The great success of local communities in attracting funds from the WiFi4EU programme for free internet in public spaces should, however, be commended,'' said Borzan, adding that special attention should be paid to strengthening the issue of digital literacy and bridging the digital divide.

"It's important that digital is an option for end users, but not the only option," it was noted.

As an opportunity for Croatia, Borzan points out the new Digital Programme, which is a 7.6 billion euro-heavy package, and can be used by small and medium-sized enterprises, and refers primarily to investment in digital technologies and infrastructure. It is also intended for investment in the development of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the development of digital skills and through sectoral digitisation.

"I hope that Croatia will use it better than we have used the European Union funds that have been available to us so far," the MEP concluded.

For more, follow our dedicated lifestyle section.