ZAGREB, 22 Nov 2021 - Croatia has registered 1,327 new coronavirus cases and 73 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday.

This is the largest number of deaths in a single day during the fourth wave of the pandemic, while the absolute record of 92 deaths was registered on 16 December 2020.

Currently, there are 29,725 active COVID-19 cases in the country. Among them are 2,583 hospitalized people, including 324 patients placed on ventilators. 20,555 people are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 571,707 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 10,376 have died and 531,606 have recovered, including 5,237 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 3,354,103 people have been tested, including 3,546 in the last 24 hours.

As of 21 November, 3,985,860 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with 52.38 percent of the total population, or 62.54 percent of the adult population, having been vaccinated. 2,125,514 persons have received at least one dose, while 1,896,361 have been fully vaccinated, which is 56.04 percent of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 22 Nov 2021 - Croatia has donated 490,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to eight countries, including Bhutan, Vietnam, Rwanda and Kosovo, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Monday.

Croatia has ordered enough vaccines so it was able to donate 490,000 doses to lower-income countries in which vaccine is less available or too expensive. The donation was made through the WHO's Covax program.

By mid-November, Croatia has donated 420,000 doses of AstraZeneca to eight countries. Montenegro, Kosovo, and Bhutan received 10,000 doses each, Bosnia and Herzegovina received 170,000 doses, North Macedonia 30,000. Vietnam 60,000 doses, Rwanda 100,000 and Albania 30,000. Last month 70,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were sent to Bosnia Herzegovina.

Contrary to popular belief, the donated vaccine is not stored in Croatia but the producer ships the doses originally intended for Croatia directly to other countries, Jutarnji List said.

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ZAGREB, 21 Nov, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 11,125 tests performed for coronavirus, 38% of them (4,262) have turned out to be positive, and 60 more COVID patients have died, raising the death toll to 10,303, Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Sunday. 

There are now 33,708 active cases, and of them 2,568 are receiving hospital treatment. As many as 323 patients are on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with the novel virus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, over 3.35 million tests have been conducted showing that 570,380 people have contracted the virus. Of them, 526,369 have so far recovered, including 5,376 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

 62.5% of adult Croatians get vaccinated

More than 3.98 million vaccine doses have been administered under the vaccination rollout plan in Croatia where 52.32% of the total population or 62.47% of the adults have been given at least a shot.

As many as 56% of the adults have fully been vaccinated to date.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - Researcher Gordan Lauc, a former member of the government's Scientific Council, said on Saturday evening that he had not called for protests against vaccinations and COVID certificates in his social networks posts and that he did not feel responsible for the incidents during the protest.

Lauc told the the Nova TV broadcaster on Saturday evening that he actually said in his posts that "COVID certificates are wrong. I told the vociferous majority that their voice should be heard. That they should share my post, that they should write to media outlets to the government, that they should turn out at protest rallies in line with law."

He went on to say that it was not him who called on people to join the protest rally held in Zagreb on Saturday afternoon against vaccines and against COVID certificates and underscored that he did not feel responsible for the incidents which had occurred during the demonstrations organised by anti-vaxxers when protesters were trying to prevent reporters to cover the rally in Zagreb's main square.

Lauc said he was sure that 99.9% of demonstrators had expressed their dissatisfaction in a peaceful and legal manner.

He added that every form of violence, both verbal and physical, should be condemned.

"Things should be settled through institution, the system, the exchange of arguments and by making logical decisions."

He said that the decision on the COVID certificate mandate was wrong. The measure was designed in the European Union, when we believed that the vaccinated people could not spread the virus.

This creates a false feeling of security, Lauc added.

While claiming that the vaccination against coronavirus would not lessen the strain on hospitals, he admitted that he was fully vaccinated after he had recovered this infectious disease.

He explained that he had received two shots to make it easier for him to travel abroad and also due to the fact that he had underlying conditions.

"Vaccination will not halt the spread of the pandemic. Getting vaccinated will reduce the risks of vaccinated individuals. All of us will caught the virus," he said.

Lauc used to be a member of the government's scientific think tank, however, the government decided to dismiss him from that body, after he said that he was against the mandatory COVID certificates for entry into state and public institutions.

The Croatian Chamber of Physicians and some members of the said think tank already warned about controversial statements made by Lauc and the chamber welcomed the decision to relieve  Lauc of the membership of the government's scientific council.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - RTL television reporter Goran Latković was attacked during a protest against mandatory COVID-19 certificates in Zagreb on Saturday while covering the event.

At the protest, which draw several thousand people from all around the country, Latković was attacked from behind and he sustained two blows to the head, rib cage and elbow.

As he was attacked from behind, the reporter did not see his attackers.

He confirmed to Hina that he would report the incident to the police.

The RTL television reported about the incident involving its reporter.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - Several thousand people from all over Croatia arrived in Zagreb on Saturday for a protest against mandatory COVID-19 certificates and epidemiological restrictions in force.

The Zagreb city police department said earlier in the day that the protest had not been announced.

"I believe scientist Gordan Lauc", "No to blind belief in authorities", "Live and let others live" were some of the messages on banners carried by the protesters who gathered in two squares, Trg Francuske republike and Trg žrtava fašizma, before starting their march towards the city's central Trg Bana Josipa Jelačića square.

Participants in the protest, which is also called the Silent White March on social networks, want the government to abolish COVID-19 certificates, which prove one's vaccination against or recovery from COVID-19 and which have become obligatory for employees of government and public institutions as well as everyone else entering those institutions.

Zagreb police said the organisers of the protest had not asked for permission to stage the event so the police would film its participants.

Before the protest, some of its participants said that citizens who do not have COVID-19 certificates are being unconstitutionally and unlawfully excluded from public life and prevented from going to work or school.

"It is our civic duty to oppose discrimination against any person, social divisions and the use of this discriminatory certificate as grounds for that," reads a statement whose authors identify themselves as citizens, participants of the Silent White March.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 -  In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 65 COVID-19-related deaths and 5,614 new infections, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday.

There are currently 34,882 active cases of the infection. A total of 2,542 COVID patients are hospitalised and 320 of them are on ventilators. As many as 27,969 people are in self-isolation.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020, there have been 566,118 registered cases of the contagion and 10,243 people have died.

A total of 520,993 people have recovered, including 5,640 in the past 24 hours.

To date, 3,339,432 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 12,823 in the last 24 hours.

52.04% of total population vaccinated

As of Friday, November 19, a total of 3,963,116 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 52.04 per cent of the total population, or 62.14 per cent of the adult population, having been vaccinated.

As of Friday, 2,111,804 people have received at least one dose and 1,889,974 have been fully immunised, which is 55.85 per cent of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 18 Nov 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 7,270 new COVID-19 cases and 63 deaths, the national COVID response team reported on Thursday.

There are 39,034 active cases in the country, including 2,513 hospitalized patients, 324 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there have been a total of 558,270 registered cases of contagion and the death toll has climbed to 10,113. A  total of 509,123 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, including 5,317 in the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 26,602 people self-isolating.

To date, 3,320,983 tests have been performed, with 17,230 samples taken in the past 24 hours.

As of 17 November, a total of 3,931,774 doses of a vaccine had been administered, with 51.63% of the total population, or 61.67% of the adult population, having been vaccinated.

On Wednesday alone, 33,122 doses of a vaccine were administered, with 18,574 people receiving the first dose.

To date, 2,095,085 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 1,881,107 people, or 55.60% of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated.

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November the 17th, 2021 - The issue of Croatian covid certificates is continuing. New rules have been in place since yesterday and now a valid certificate is required not only to enter healthcare and social care institutions, but also to access state and public services. The rules for unvaccinated people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus, however, are still unclear for many.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as of Tuesday the 16th of November, about 370,000 people employed in the public and state sector will not be able to go to their places of work without valid Croatian covid certificates, and the services these institutions offer will also not be able to be used by people who don't possess the same document. Those who aren't vaccinated will only be able to go to their places of work (if they work in one of the above sectors) if they have a certificate issued on the basis of having contracted and since recovered from the novel virus.

It all seems more or less clear enough (for Croatian standards), but there's still a lack of clarity - can people who have suffered from coronavirus in the last six months or in the last twelve months go to work if they work in public services? Can they enter a post office?

Croatian covid certificates with a QR code, either in digital or physical/paper form, can be obtained by those who have had the virus in the last six months and can prove it with a positive PCR test result from within that exact time frame. This is done exclusively with a PCR test result only, which is clearly written on the page where covid certificates are taken out in digital form.

Namely, according to the appropriate EU regulation, proof of having had and since overcome this illness is proven exclusively in this way and a certificate issued on that basis will be valid for six months. But Croatia has its own rules.

According to the Croatian rules, for all those who work in the healthcare and social care system, and as of today for all employees in state and public services, other ''appropriate evidence'' is valid, apart from simply presenting Croatian covid certificates.

Namely, if you overcame the coronavirus eight or maybe eleven months ago, you cannot get a covid certificate, but you can still go to work or to a parent-teacher meeting at your child's school. To be able to do this, you must have a certificate from your GP. In this case, the condition is not overcoming the illness in the last six months, but in the last twelve.

In addition, there is no condition that you must have tested positive with a PCR test only, as is the case with regular Croatian covid certificates. In this case, a positive rapid antigen test result is enough.

The Decision, which was put into force yesterday, states that it isn't actually necessary to have a covid-certificate, nor a certificate from your GP confirming the illness. Instead, your GP can put you down as a so-called ''probable case'' if someone in your household has tested positive and you had contact with that individual. It's easy to see where the confusion lies here as the situation is being overcomplicated and muddied in typical Croatian style.

So, in short, if you work in state or public services and you aren't vaccinated, you can still go to work with the confirmation from your GP that someone in your family has been positive for coronavirus in the last year, and you had contact with that person. Persons who had properly diagnosed coronavirus patients in their family and had contact with these patients can be declared so-called ''probable cases'' even if the presence of the virus was never confirmed with a test, the Decision states.

It is not stated whether this refers to a case in which you were officially reported as someone's contact and as such put into self-isolation, or if it's enough to give your doctor a positive test result from the aforementioned time period from a family member.

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ZAGREB, 15 Nov 2021 - Minister of Labour and Pension System Josip Aladrović on Monday said that there is no rational reason to reject being tested for coronavirus, underscoring that employers would decide on the fate of those who refused to be tested.

"We can try and have understanding, for a certain period of time, for people who do not wish to get vaccinated. However, there is no rational reason to reject testing and I think that we all need to show responsibility here," Aladrović told reporters.

Speaking ahead of the introduction of COVID certificates in all state and public service facilities on Tuesday, Aladrović underscored that the healthcare and welfare sectors, where COVID certificates were introduced in October, had demonstrated a high level of responsibility, adding that he did not believe other systems could encounter any major problems for introducing the certificates either.

Asked what will happen to employees who refuse to be tested, Aladrović underscored that their employers would be the ones to decide.

"The related lay-offs so far have been at the level of statistical errors. I expect a vast majority of employees will be responsible, however, employers will be the ones to decide in cases of non-compliance," he said and added that this was in line with the law.

Commenting on ongoing protests against COVID certificates, he said that they were exclusively politically motivated. "It is really difficult to find any rational reason for the protests," the minister said, adding that he expected them to wane at one point.

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