Croatian Civil Protection Directorate Plans for Wider "Covid Passport" Use

July the 4th, 2021 - The Croatian Civil Protection Directorate is planning for the even wider use of the controversial ''covid passports'', and the plans, although not set in stone yet, could irritate a lot of people.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the vaccine against the novel coronavirus isn't going to be made mandatory, nor are there any plans to change the law to allow for that, but people who don't have possession of the covid-digital certificate will be very limited in what they can do, Jutarnji list writes on Saturday.

As the Croatian Civil Protection Directorate told Jutarnji list, everything can be “elegantly” solved by, for example, introducing the obligation that every person who enters a health institution or hospital, be they an employee or a patient (of course except in emergencies) must have a digital covid certificate.

In translation, if this does occur, if an employee hasn't been vaccinated or can't prove that they have recovered from the disease, in order to come to work they will have to be tested every 48 hours. If someone is a patient and there is nothing urgent to be dealt with there and then, there can be no entry into the hospital.

This was partly confirmed by the Minister of Health Vili Beros for Index, saying that they are considering introducing testing when entering hospitals to ensure safety, but also that health professionals work for as long as their covid-confirmation lasts or be tested for the presence of the virus every 48 hours.

However, given the information Jutarnji received from the Croatian Civil Protection Directorate, in the foreseeable future it is expected that something similar will be prescribed for the entire public sector and beyond.

“First of all, we're going in the direction of vaccinating the people who are in the greatest contact with other people. These are drivers in public transport, teachers, professors, educators, healthcare workers, people who work at counters or are otherwise in daily contact with a large number of people. Our goal is to prevent the spread of the disease and create conditions so that in autumn, we don't end up with the same wave we had last year,'' explained Beros.

By all accounts, this will be a way to start living as before, at least for those who have a QR code or a certificate proving that they have recovered from the disease, that they have been vaccinated or that they have been tested within the last 48 hours.

This decision from the Croatian Civil Protection Directorate, as Jutarnji unofficially finds out, will probably concern even shopping centres, where people who have certificates could walk around freely without a mask and without maintaining social distancing. The only difference from the time before the coronavirus pandemic would be the reading of the code at the entrance to such centres.

''According to the information we have, it is very likely that in the near future entry into all larger spaces, which include shopping centres, will be possible only with a covid certificate/confirmation,'' reports Jutarnji list.

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