August 27, 2021 - The miracle town of Ludbreg will be celebrating Croatia's only miracle certified by the Vatican - a look at the rich religious programme for Holy Sunday 2021.

Croatia is a very Catholic country, and yet I am constantly surprised at how few locals, even the religious ones, can name the only miracle in the country which has been certified by the Vatican.  As more than a million pilgrims head to the unrecognised Medjugorje in nearby Herzegovina each year, interest in Croatia's actual miracle goes largely unnoticed, apart the first weekend of September. 

Having lived in Jelsa on Hvar for many years, I have seen the importance of religious  tradition first-hand with the annual Za Krizen (Behind the Cross) procession, now a part of UNESCO intangible heritage. Other reglious celebrations of patron saints, such as St Blaise in Dubrovnik, St Domnius in Split, or the 100,000 pilgrims who head to seen on the Feast of the Assumption get wide coverage and are well-known  in Croatia. 

And yet, the only actual miracle seems to be little known outside of its region. I have lost count of the number of religious locals I have asked to name the only certifid miracle in Croatia, and they express surprise when I tell them that it is to be found in the town they know better as the Centre of the World.

But the Eucharistic Miracle of Ludbreg was authenticated by Papal Bull by Pope Leo X back  in 1513, after the local priest expressed doubts about transubstantiation. His doubt turned to horror, as the wine turned  to blood. That holy blood is displayed  in a glass case in a chalice in the main church in Ludbreg, having beeen paraded through the streets of Rome after its authentication all those years ago.  You can learn more about the story in the video below. 

Despite its relatively unknown status as Croatia's only certified miracle, some 100,000 people visit Ludbreg each September to celebrate the Holy Blood of Christ. There are an array of activities - many religious, many not - and this curious little town bursts into life for the few days leading up to the  Holy Sunday finale. 

The main holy mass takes place on Sunday, September 5, in the park in front of a rather unusual church with a more unusual history. Built in 1994 after the fulfilment of a Croatian government promise to construct a church in Ludbreg is God would stop the plague in 1738, the church is only used once a year for this mass. 

It is highly unlikely that there will be 100,000 pilgrims this year, due to the epidemiological measures, but there is a very full programme for those wishing to attend, both religious and other. The full programmes are below in English, but please check the Ludbreg Tourist Board Facebook page for the latest advice regarding the measures. 

Holy Sunday 2021 follows on from what has been a good year for the miracle town. Earlier this year, the Archaeological Park Iovia opened on the main square, a major new attraction for the town. This has been followed by a very lively tourism programme under the heading Active Ludbreg Summer. 

THE PROGRAMME OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY BLOOD OF CHRIST 2021.

Saturday, August 28^th, 2021 – Youth Pilgrimage

18:00 Holy Mass

19:30 Spiritual music festival „Duga“

Sunday, August 29^th, 2021 – The pilgrimage of the sick persons and persons with disabilities, hospice workers, medical staff and the staff from the Ludbreg Red Cross

7:00 Holy Mass in the parish church

8:00 Holy Mass in the parish church

10:00 The pilgrims' procession from the parish church to the votive chapel, the devotion of the Stations of the Cross and Holy Mass

19:00 Sang recitations and litanies for the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass

Monday, August 30^th, 2021

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass

Tuesday, August 31^st, 2021

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass

Wednesday, September 1^st, 2021

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass

HOLY THURSDAY, September 2^nd, 2021 – The pilgrimage of the altar boys and the catechists

19:30 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (mons. Bože Radoš, the Bishop of Varaždin)

Sung celebrations and litanies of the Holy Blood, evening

21:00 The Holy Hour of Gethsemane

HOLY FRIDAY, September 3^rd, 2021 – The votive pilgrimage of the neighbouring parishes and the pilgrimage for the military and the police

7:00 Holy Mass – Martijanec parish

8:00 Holy Mass - Sveti Đurđ parish

9:00 Holy Mass - Veliki Bukovec parish

10:00 The procession from the church to the votive chapel, the devotion of the Stations of the Cross, Holy Mass (mons. Jure Bogdan, military chaplain), joined by the pilgrims from Rasinja and Vinica

19:00 Sung recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass (lead by the venerable Matej Glavica, this year's chaplain and spiritual leader)

21:00 The youth wake

HOLY SATURDAY, September 4th, 2021 – The pilgrimage of the parishes from Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary

6:00 Holy Mass

7:00 Holy Mass

9:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel, in Slovenian and Hungarian languages

10:45 The procession by the pilgrims, from the parish church to the votive chapel

11:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (lead by mons. Vjekoslav Huzjak, Bishop of Bjelovar-Križevci, co-celebrated by mons. Božo Radoš and mons. Josip Mrzljak) – the celebration will be supported by the choir lead by sister Kristina Cenkovčan

THE CONFESSIONS WILL TAKE PLACE FROM THE MORNING, IN THE ATRIUM OF THE CHURCH, AND DURING THE HOLY MASS IN THE OUTDOORS AREA OF THE VOTIVE CHAPEL.

The Afternoon programme:

13:00 – 15:00 The Eucharistic Adoration to the Holy Altar Sacrament in the Votive chapel for the spiritual healing of our families

15:00 The devotion of the stations of the Holy Cross and the blessing of the pilgrims

19:30 Sung recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass

20:00 Holy Mass (lead by the Missionaries of the Blood of Jesus)

HOLY SUNDAY, September 5^th, 2021

6:00 Holy Mass

7:00 Holy Mass

8:00 Receiving the pilgrims

9:00 The spiritual programme in the votive chapel (lead by venerable Matej Glavica)

9:45 The pilgrims' procession from the parish church to the votive chapel

10:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (lead by mons. dr. László Német, Bishop of Zrenjanin, joined by the other bishops and priests in the pilgrimage)

The afternoon programme:

13:00 – 15:00 The Adoration of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar in the votive chapel, for the spiritual professions in Croatia

15:00 The piety of the Stations of the Cross and the blessing of the pilgrims along the main path of the pilgrimage

17:00 The Rosary of God's Mercy in the parish church

19:00 Sung recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening prayer

19:40 The Holy Mass of gratitude in the votive chapel

We ask the priests to please bring their surplice and tippet in red.

All the information is available in the parish office, phone: 042 811 116, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LET'S CELEBRATE THE HOLY BLOOD!

Mons. Josip Đurkan

Parish priest

Days of Ludbreg Holy Sunday 2021

The Organisers:

The town of Ludbreg

Ludbreg Parish

The town of Ludbreg Tourist Board

The Center for the Culture and Information

Radio Ludbreg d.o.o. and Lukom d.o.o.

Days of Ludbreg Holy Sunday 2021

Patronized by the Croatian Parliament

CELEBRATION PROGRAMME:

August, 27th (Friday)

20:30* - A Concert by the mixed choir „Podravina“ (Batthyany Castle)

August, 30th (Monday)

20:00* – A Concert Through the Generations (Batthyany Castle)

August 31st (Tuesday)

18:00 – A presentation of the Podravina Anthology (Batthyany Castle)

September 1st (Wednesday)

17:00 – The opening of the exhibition by Eva Vučković „Crvena nit“ (A Read Line) (Bakina Hiža)

19:00 – A presentation of the Croatian writer Ante Marinčić (Batthyany Castle)

September 2nd (Thursday)

11:00 – The opening of the House of Sun in Sigec Ludbreški

14:00 – The opening of the offices of the Varaždinski Cvijet co-operation

16:00 – The presentation of the Honey Cuisine of Ludbreg (Vintners' Association „Trstek“ Cellar)

17:00 – The opening of the Ludbreg Fair (Ludbreški sejem), supported by the Ducati komponenti d.o.o. Ludbreg (Sv. Trojstva Square)

21:00 – The Concert by Jura Stublić & Film Group (in front of the NK Podravina stadium) 

September 3rd, 2020 (Friday)

8:00 – Ludbreg Fair (Sv. Trojstva Square)

17:00 – The Source of Inspiration – the literary competition of the spiritual creation, held by Radio Ludbreg (Center for the Culture and Information)

18:00 – The opening of the exhibition of the sacred motives by Marija Kovačić (Batthyany Castle)

19:00* - The concert by the Town of Ludbreg Wind Orchestra (Batthyany Castle)

21:00 – Maja Šuput concert (in front of the NK Podravina stadium)

September 4th (Saturday)

8:00 – Ludbreg Fair (Sv. Trojstva Square)

9:00 – 11:00 Oldtimer car exhibition (Zanatski Square)

21:00 – Željko Bebek concert (in front of the NK Podravina stadium)

September 5th (Sunday)

8:00 – Ludbreg Fair (Sv. Trojstva Square)

SPORTS PROGRAMME:

August 28th, (Saturday)

9:00 – The Memorial Tennis Tournament „Marijan Kovačić“ (Tennis Centre Ludbreg)

15:00 – Trap shooting competition, organized by the Hunters' Association „Srnjak“ (Ludbreg Hunters' Lodge)

August 29th (Sunday)

9:00 – Trap shooting competition, organized by the Hunters' Association „Srnjak“

11:00 – Beach volleyball competition (Ludbreg Sports Hall)

September 4th (Saturday)

17:00 – Championship football game, NK Podravina – NK Mladost Ždralovi (town stadium Ludbreg)

RELIGIOUS PROGRAMME:

August 28^th (Saturday) – Youth Pilgrimage

18:00 Holy Mass

19:30 Spiritual music festival „Duga“ 

August 29^th (Sunday) – The pilgrimage of the sick persons and persons with disabilities, hospice workers, medical staff and the staff from the Ludbreg Red Cross

7:00 Holy Mass in the parish church

8:00 Holy Mass in the parish church

10:00 The pilgrims' procession from the parish church to the votive chapel, the devotion of the Stations of the Cross and Holy Mass

19:00 Sung recitations and litanies for the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass

August 30^th (Monday)

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass

August 31^st (Tuesday)

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass 

September 1^st (Wednesday)

7:30 Holy Mass

19:00 Holy Mass

September 2^nd (Holy Thursday) – The pilgrimage of the altar boys and the catechists

19:30 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (mons. Bože Radoš, the Bishop of Varaždin)

Sang celebrations and litanies of the Holy Blood, evening

21:00 The Holy Hour of Gethsemane 

September 3^rd (Holy Friday) – The votive pilgrimage of the neighbouring parishes and the pilgrimage for the military and the police

7:00 Holy Mass – Martijanec parish

8:00 Holy Mass - Sveti Đurđ parish

9:00 Holy Mass - Veliki Bukovec parish

10:00 The procession from the church to the votive chapel, the devotion of the Stations of the Cross, Holy Mass (mons. Jure Bogdan, military chaplain), joined by the pilgrims from Rasinja and Vinica

19:00 Sang recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass (lead by the venerable Matej Glavica, this year's chaplain and spiritual leader)

21:00 The youth wake 

September 4^th (Holy Saturday) – The pilgrimage of the parishes from Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary

6:00 Holy Mass

7:00 Holy Mass

9:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel, in Slovenian and Hungarian languages

10:45 The procession by the pilgrims, from the parish church to the votive chapel

11:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (lead by mons. Vjekoslav Huzjak, Bishop of Bjelovar-Križevci, co-celebrated by mons. Božo Radoš and mons. Josip Mrzljak) – the celebration will be supported by the choir lead by sister Kristina Cenkovčan

THE CONFESSIONS WILL TAKE PLACE FROM THE MORNING, IN THE ATRIUM OF THE CHURCH, AND DURING THE HOLY MASS IN THE OUTDOORS AREA OF THE VOTIVE CHAPEL.

The Afternoon programme:

13:00 – 15:00 The Eucharistic Adoration to the Holy Altar Sacrament in the Votive chapel for the spiritual healing of our families

15:00 The devotion of the stations of the Holy Cross and the blessing of the pilgrims

19:30 Sang recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening Holy Mass

20:00 Holy Mass (lead by the Missionaries of the Blood of Jesus)

September 5^th (Holy Sunday)

6:00 Holy Mass

7:00 Holy Mass

8:00 Receiving of the pilgrims

9:00 The spiritual programme in the votive chapel (lead by venerable Matej Glavica)

9:45 The pilgrims' procession from the parish church to the votive chapel

10:00 Holy Mass in the votive chapel (lead by mons. dr. László Német, Bishop of Zrenjanin, joined by the other bishops and priests in the pilgrimage)

The afternoon programme:

13:00 – 15:00 The Adoration of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar in the votive chapel, for the spiritual professions in Croatia

15:00 The piety of the Stations of the Cross and the blessing of the pilgrims along the main path of the pilgrimage

17:00 The Rosary of God's Mercy in the parish church

19:00 Sang recitations and litanies to the Holy Blood, evening prayer

19:40 The Holy Mass of gratitude in the votive chapel

For the latest guidelines due to epidemiological measures, check the Ludbreg Tourist Board  Facebook page. 

To learn more about Ludbreg and its unique religious heritage,  check out the Total Croatia Ludbreg in a Page guide.

August 27, 2021 - The Europa League draw was held today in Istanbul, with Dinamo in Group H against Genk, West Ham, and Rapid Wien. 

After being relegated from the Champions League playoffs by Moldovan club Sheriff (0-3, 0-0), Dinamo was placed in the first strong group of the Europa League draw and today learned the rivals that stand in their way to a new European spring.

The draw in Istanbul on Friday decided that Dinamo will play in Group H of the Europa League. The Zagreb club has thus drawn Group H with Genk, West Ham, and Rapid Wien. The first match of the group stage is scheduled for September 16.

Dinamo could have had a much worse draw, and a clash against Crvena Zvezda has been avoided. Rapid will threaten Damir Krznar's team from the fourth strong group of the team, West Ham from the third, while Genk, which knocked out Osijek and Lokomotiva from European competitions in previous years, come from the second.

EUROPE LEAGUE GROUP DRAW:

Group A
Lyon
Rangers
Sparta Prague
Brondby

Group B
Monaco
PSV Eindhoven
Real Sociedad
Sturm Graz

Group C
Napoli
Leicester City
Spartak Moscow
Legia Warsaw

Group D
Olympiakos
Eintracht Frankfurt
Fenerbahce
Royal Antwerp

Group E
Lazio
Lokomotiv Moscow
Marseille
Galatasaray

Group F
Braga
Red Star Belgrade
Ludogorets
Midtjylland

Group G
Bayer Leverkusen
Celtic
Real Betis
Ferencvaros

Group H
Dinamo Zagreb
Genk
West Ham
Rapid Vienna

Match dates: September 16 and 30, October 21, November 4 and 25, December 9

The knockout round playoffs are held on February 17 and 24 before the last 16 draw on February 25. The round of 16 is played on March 10 and 17, the quarter-finals on April 7 and 14, and the semis on April 28 and May 5. The Europa League final is on May 18 in Seville. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.

August 27, 2021 - Croatia will play against France in the EuroVolley 2021 round of 16 in Belgrade on Sunday. 

On the brink of defeat, Belarus came to a victory against Slovakia in four sets 3-2 (18-25, 23-25, 25-23, 30-28, 15-12), winning a spot in the European Championship round of 16. Slovakia was thus left without a spot in the knockout phase.

Italy easily defeated Switzerland 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 27-25) and confirmed first place in Group C, which was hosted by Zadar. Croatia won second place in Group C with four wins and one defeat, and will thus play against France in the round of 16 on Sunday, August 29, in Belgrade.

By winning third place, Belarus will play against Russia, and fourth-placed Hungary will play against Serbia. Italy will face Belgium as a rival.

The first round of 16 matches are scheduled for Saturday when Bulgaria-Sweden and the Netherlands-Germany will play in Plovdiv. The next day, Turkey-Czech Republic, Poland-Ukraine, Croatia-France, and Serbia-Hungary are scheduled. On Monday, Italy-Belgium and Russia-Belarus will close the round of 16. 

“At the beginning of the summer, we had a goal, and that was to reach second place in the group. In my opinion, this is our best result. This is the reality, we showed our game. Our goal was to reach first place among the teams that are not at the best level. We have achieved that and we are happy about that. We won without losing a set against teams that are not at the highest level of their game. We are happy with this round of the competition because we showed some really good moments in our game. But some of our mistakes are continuous. If we want to be at a better level, we have to play with teams that are at a higher level than ours. Losing to Italy was hard for us to accept, because it is not easy to lose after four consecutive victories. Italy is in the best shape and we are happy to have had the opportunity to play a match against them. Our job is not done. We are proud and happy with what we have shown so far, but we still have a lot of work to do," revealed Daniele Santarelli, coach of the women's volleyball team.

Croatia will continue its journey and travel to Belgrade to play the EuroVolley 2021 last 16. 

“From the beginning of the summer and throughout the entire Golden European League, which was very good preparation for EuroVolley 2021, our goal was second place in the group. We have achieved that. We knew from the beginning that Italy is at a higher level than all the teams that are in our group. They showed that even though they came a little demoralized after the Olympics. But this group served to restore the self-confidence they lacked. We are satisfied and we are preparing for the future. I am proud of my team. During these four months, there used to be difficult moments, but also more beautiful ones. I am happy that I was able to share everything with them. I have to praise all the players. This is the first big European competition and championship for some players, and their first serious national team competition for the first time. We had a good first part and we are happy to see that we have room for further progress. I know we can do even better and we are still working on it. The time we spent here in Zadar, which is one of my favorites in Croatia, made our preparations easier. It was easier for us to relax and forget about sports obligations, at least on days off by the sea," concluded captain Samanta Fabris. 

Rene Sain, Ema Strunjak, Božana Butigan, Nikolina Božičević, Laura Miloš, Lucija Mlinar, Matea Ikić, Beta Dumančić, Samanta Fabris, Martina Šamadan, Klara Perić, Lea Deak, Dinka Kulić and Karla Klarić play for the Croatia women's team. The professional staff includes national team coach Daniele Santarelli, first assistant coach Diego Flisi, second assistant coach Simone Truzzi, fitness coach Daniele Alpi, physiotherapist Francesco Zucca, team manager Frane Žanić, team analyst Marko Greco and assistant coach Mirela Delić.

Source: HOS.CVF, HRT

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.

August 27, 2021 - Little free libraries in Croatia are a new way to encourage both locals and tourists to read in their community. 

When you came back from a European holiday, you may enthusiastically tell your friends about small nooks, sometimes telephone booths, old lockers, or shop windows that showcase a selection of books. Books that are accessible to everyone. You were likely fascinated by the abundance of books and the variety and quality of the titles, and there were probably more titles available you wished to take with you!

Although it started in the USA, thanks to reading enthusiasts, the trend of these little free libraries, fortunately, came to life in Croatia. They come in various shapes, sizes, and colors, and all share that you can borrow books to read for free. These small libraries are opened by reading enthusiasts who want to encourage reading habits in their environment. Depending on the environment, some are citizens' associations, and some are individuals.

In addition to the usual users who do not have to be members of a local library, tourists are the ones who, on beaches, bays, rivers, lakes, plains, and mountains, can enjoy the offer of books included in these little free libraries. The challenges of having these libraries in tourist centers are the same of these libraries everywhere. The moment it is open to the public and the community, which is the primary goal, it begins life in symbiosis with that community. You can imagine and force some literature, but the community maintains the fund of each individual library in the long run. If you want to adapt it to tourists, you need to act accordingly and need to regularly make sure that the library has enough titles in foreign languages. Libraries located exclusively in tourist places where interactions with the local population are minimal need guards who know the destination and the structure of the guests of that destination. In these situations, the variety of material and language is essential for its maintenance.

Librarians Maja Lesinger and Željka Hatvalić Strahija from the smallest and northernmost Croatian county - Međimurje - came up with the idea of uniting all libraries in one place. A Facebook page and a group for librarians were opened, in which the librarian administrators were mentioned, and an interactive map of the Little Free Libraries in Croatia was created. This is a unique project in Croatia to collect data on free libraries, promote them, and support librarians and volunteers who build, set up, and maintain these libraries independently.

While the site and the group are more intended to support the librarians and serve for promotion, the interactive map allows all interested to see the free libraries and register at your location. 

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

August the 27th, 2021 - Croatian festival organisers like those from Ontodei have turned towards the ever-popular beer business as the second year of festivals in Croatia being severely hindered by the pandemic shows no signs of letting up.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, Croatian festival organisers have had an enormous amount of time to twiddle their thumbs and sit worrying about their futures as a result of the global pandemic. Some, however, have decided to branch out. The young entrepreneurs involved with the brands Saso Mange and Freemental are not giving up despite the dire circumstances, and this summer they started developing their second project, craft beer production.

The Saso Mange brewery was opened in Zagreb's Gajnice on July the 1st this year, in which 1.5 million kuna and many hours of work in the former printing house have been invested so far. The first two beers, Saso Mange Hairy Blonde and Choppy Apa entered the Croatian market, through cafes and specialty stores, followed by a web shop with delivery options available.

The label is signed by artist Miro Zupa and designer Bojan Kanizaj, and the brand name Saso Mange comes from the Romani language and means "there is everything/ima svega". Additional investments are already being made for the winter, and the plan is to connect the story with festivals, revealed Filip Ledinscak, the co-founder and director of Vopisada.

"Apart from the direct sales we've already started with, our plan is to have our own sales channel through the Freemental festival, which we hope will start up again next summer. Beer production and music festivals are related projects that have always been in our plans, but the pandemic has certainly affected the realisation and dynamics. As we decided to postpone the festival we were developing on Cres this summer, we've now decided to start with the brewery,'' Ledinscak explained.

Along with him, his partners from Ontodei, Croatian festival organisers, Filip Filipi and Matija Santro, entered the beer business, while the fourth founder, Daniel Derencinovic, is the main production operator.

The whole entrepreneurial story started to mature about ten years ago, when they built their own soundsystem as sound engineers, which they rented to other festivals, and five years ago they decided to start their own. The coronavirus pandemic thus interrupted them in the increasingly serious project of the Freemental festival.

"On Cres, it turned out that we had a great product with good prospects. There are few such festivals by the sea in Europe, and the vision is to make an exclusive festival with a maximum of 3.5 thousand people. We'd rather make two smaller ones than one large festival with ten thousand people, in order to have a minimal impact on the environment and maintain the quality of the content. In the second edition of that, we introduced a lot more content in Freemental, in 2020 the plan was to further enrich it and develop a really serious story, but then the pandemic struck. We weighed in on this year, but this is a festival in which we still need to invest significantly, and the uncertainty of the event would be very risky for us financially.

So, we've now turned to the brewery, and I believe that as early as next summer the situation will be much more favourable to continue with the festival where we left off. I have no doubt about that because everyone who is collaborating on the project can't wait for us to start again,'' Ledinscak pointed out.

From next summer on, both projects should be "driven" in parallel. Vopisada expects a return on investment in the brewery and earnings in three to five years. The brewery is now at a capacity of 50 thousand litres per year, but around the New Year they'll continue to invest to triple the capacity, to 150 thousand litres per year, with two employees.

For more, follow our business section.

August the 27th, 2021 - The Croatian vaccine rollout is going rather poorly, with only Romania and Bulgaria behind us in terms of the number of fully vaccinated people in the country.

The pandemic is continuing despite the vaccination rollout happening more or less all over the world to some degree or another. Some European countries, such as the United Kingdom, have dropped the majority or all of their epidemiological measures as the vaccine rollout is excellent and hospitalisations and deaths drop.

Not all European countries, however, can boast of the same vaccination success. Croatia, despite relying heavily on tourism, gatherings and events in which the virus would easily spread and cause havoc, is unfortunately one of them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian vaccine rollout has been at its lowest level since back in mid-February this year, when the vaccine had arrived in the country, been made available to all, and the campaign had only just actually begun.

About 0.15 people per 100 inhabitants have been vaccinated in the last few days, which puts the Republic of Croatia at the bottom of the European Union, writes Index.

It is important to know that Croatia is one of the weakest vaccinated countries in the entire European Union. Only Romania and Bulgaria are worse than us. So far, only 41 percent of the population has received a single dose, and only 38 percent have been fully vaccinated, which speaks volumes about the Croatian vaccine rollout and of attitudes towards it in general.

The poor Croatian vaccine rollout means that the chances of reaching the needed vaccination levels in the foreseeable future, which could ensure a return to relatively normal life, are very low.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, borderand document requirements, as well as the locations of testing centres and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language.

August the 27th, 2021 - Croatian passenger transport for 2021 so far is significantly stronger than that of the comparable period of pandemic-dominated 2020, by as much as 124 percent.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, the restrictions imposed on travel that came with the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic last year have left a strong mark on Croatian passenger transport activities, and in recent months this has been reflected in a significant increase when compared to 2020.

While the first quarter of this year was still very much marked by a decline in the number of passengers transported (34 percent) because in a good part of last year's first quarter there were no such restrictions in force, in the second quarter of 2021, state statisticians recorded significant annual growth.

According to the latest CBS data, a total of 13.9 million passengers were transported from April to June, which is 124 percent more than in the same period last year, although this still means that there has been a 35.8 percent decrease when compared to the same period in 2019, equal to 7.7 million fewer passengers.

Of the less than 14 million passengers transported, road line transport is expected to account for 7.9 million passengers. And that is far from the pre-pandemic figures (35 percent less), but compared to last year, it represents an increase of a very encouraging 157 percent.

At the same time, slightly less than 3.4 million passengers were transported by rail, almost twice as many as in the observed period of 2020, with a relative lag for 2019, as was the case in road transport.

The same percentage decrease compared to the year before the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 was recorded in the period April-June by Croatian shipping companies in maritime and coastal transport with close to 2.5 million passengers, which is four fifths more than last year.

The biggest gap compared to pre-pandemic achievements is, unsurprisingly, in air transport. Airlines carried 173,000 passengers in the second quarter of 2021, and although this means an increase of as much as 176 percent when compared to last year, it is also only 27.2 percent of the realisation in the same quarter of pre-pandemic 2019.

If we add up the total decline in the first and growth in the second quarter, the result of the first half of this year is 25.2 million passengers carried or 11.2 percent more people using Croatian passenger transport than last year, but 38.3 percent less than in 2019.

For more, follow our travel section.

August the 27th, 2021 - The Croatian Health Ministry has, in principle, expressed its support for the idea of unvaccinated healthcare workers employed in Croatian hospitals paying monetary compensation to patients who become infected with the novel coronavirus while in hospital.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Health Ministry recently welcomed the move of the management of KBC Osijek, which warned its unvaccinated employees in a letter about the possibility of paying compensation to patients who become infected during their hospital stay.

The letter warns the employees of KBC Osijek about the possibility of paying compensation if a patient becomes infected in the hospital and decides to sue the institution. In the letter, the management states the possibility that, if this happens, the hospital will be able to seek compensation from unvaccinated staff members.

The Croatian Health Ministry estimates that the management of KBC Osijek, as part of its competencies and responsibilities for the work of the hospital, "timely and properly informed its employees about the need to raise the level of individual and collective protection against coronavirus'' and accordingly increase overall patient safety.

“It's clear from the letter that the management of KBC Osijek is transmitting information to all of its employees about the existence of civil lawsuits of persons alleging that their family members were infected with coronavirus when they were receiving hospital treatment (such as in the KBC Zagreb case) and that they consider the hospital responsible for the contaction of the infection, and as such the employees of the institution as a source, ie vectors of the infection,'' stated the Croatian Health Ministry.

It referred to a claim for compensation, more precisely a settlement with the hospital due to the death of an 84-year-old woman from the novel coronavirus, who the family believes was infected while being treated in a medical institution. According to Jutarnji list, the family demanded compensation of 632,000 kuna from KBC Zagreb.

The Croatian Health Ministry considers that lawsuits with high compensation claims, based on the argument that the hospital, ie its employees, didn't take all available measures to protect patients from contracting the infection, prompted the management of KBC Osijek to remind its employees that timely vaccination means taking the available protection from infection and the transmission of that same infection to patients, including adherence to all of the prescribed epidemiological measures.

Over recent days, KBC Osijek has stated that they aren't forcing any of their employees to be vaccinated, emphasising that it is still their duty to warn their employees about responsible behaviour and what may happen should they choose to refuse the vaccine.

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