ZAGREB, 21 March 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 834 new coronavirus cases and 20 related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday. 

The number of active cases currently stands at 6,922.

Among them are 982 people who are receiving hospital treatment, including 90 on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 257,639 people have been infected with the novel virus, of whom 5,773 have died and 244,944 have recovered, including 809 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 22,914 people are in self-isolation. A total of 1,475,016 people have been tested to date, including 6,884 in the last 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 20 March 2021 - Protests against epidemiological restrictions were held in five Croatian cities on Saturday, drawing several thousand citizens who demanded an end to the mandatory wearing of face masks.

The protests, organized by the Rights and Freedoms initiative, were held in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Šibenik, and Osijek.

Croatians thus joined in protest walks held in some 40 countries worldwide under the slogan "World march for freedom, peace, and democracy."

An announcement of the protest said the initiative was aimed at raising awareness of people's role in decision-making, encouraging citizens to act, and creating a medium for educating citizens about their constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms.

The Croatian protestors rallied to express their dissatisfaction with restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus epidemic. The protest organizers said they consider authoritarian and brought more harm than benefit.

The World March for Freedom, Peace, and Democracy was held in more than 100 cities in 40 countries today. Its organizers pointed to what they consider an unjustified imposition of epidemiological restrictions and that basic human rights are inalienable.

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

ZAGREB, 20 March 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 1,186 new coronavirus cases and 10 related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday. 

The number of active cases currently stands at 6,917. Among them are 931 people who are receiving hospital treatment, including 89 placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 256,805 people have been infected with the novel virus, of whom 5,753 have died, and 244,135 have recovered.

Currently, 23,427 people are in self-isolation. A total of 1,468,132 people have been tested to date, including 6,595 in the last 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 20 March 2021 - Tourists and owners of property in Croatia from Slovenia, Poland, Austria and Germany want to spend their summer holidays in Croatia this year. Still, they are cautious in planning and booking because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and restrictions imposed to contain it.

Last year the Croatian tourism industry recorded the best results from these four markets, so Hina asked the directors of the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) offices there about current booking figures for this year, including the forthcoming Easter holidays.

This and the Safe Stay in Croatia project were also discussed earlier this week at HTZ online workshops for the Slovenian and Polish markets. Over 200 participants from Croatia attended, and the two countries' workshops will soon be held for the Austrian and German markets.

As for the Easter holidays, tourist arrivals from these and other countries are not expected in large numbers because of the third wave of the pandemic and the restrictions that are in place there, as well as because of the existing measures in Croatia, which requires a negative PCR test or a quarantine until PCR test results arrive for travelers wishing to enter the country.

The initial optimism for this tourist season and travel has diminished in many countries as the vaccination process is slower than expected. New, more infectious variants of the coronavirus have emerged, resulting in increased infections.

Slovenia

The director of the HTZ office in Ljubljana, Metka Bradetić, said that Slovenian partners see Croatia as a country where Slovenians will definitely travel to as soon as the conditions allow. She said that they are not worried about the summer and post-summer seasons but that the pre-summer season is uncertain because the epidemiological measures currently in Slovenia are rather strict. It is hard to make any predictions.  

"Slovenian owners of real estate and vessels in Croatia can't wait for relaxation of the border crossing regime," Bradetić says, noting that the current booking for Croatia is lower than at the same time last year, but that Slovenian tour operators and travel agencies expect stronger last-minute sales.

Poland

The director of the HTZ office in Poland, Agnieszka Puszczewicz, said she is pleased with the response to the HTZ business workshop, where Polish partners said they are hoping that their compatriots will be able to travel to Croatia this summer despite the third wave of the pandemic because Croatia is among the most sought-after destinations.

"Our Polish partners stress the importance of information about health safety protocols and the conditions tourists will have to meet to visit Croatia this summer. They all hope that an increase in the number of vaccinated people and those with antibodies will further facilitate travel. The Polish government's decision on return protocols will also have an impact, and we should also take into account the fact that a PCR test costs 125 euro in Poland," Puszczewicz said.

She noted that Poles praise Croatia for its handling of last year's season and hope that this year too, they will spend safe and carefree holidays in Croatia.

Austria

Austrians are mostly interested in the conditions for entering Croatia, the cost of PCR and rapid antigen tests and testing sites, the epidemiological and vaccination situation in Croatia, and the country's plan to open to international tourism, the head of the HTZ office in Austria, Branimir Tončinić, told Hina.

"Assuming that Croatia will be on the green list and that Austria will change its present regime of return to the country with mandatory testing and a 10-day quarantine, even larger visits from this market are possible than in 2020, but only as of June, because Austria has only recently extended the return regime for its citizens until 31 May," Tončinić said. 

Asked about Austrian owners of real estate and vessels in Croatia who, like Slovenians and citizens of other countries, visited Croatia in the pre-summer season last year, he said that they are mainly interested if there are or there will be any regulations allowing them to enter Croatia to check on their property.

"There is a great interest in Croatia among this section of the public because they own property in Croatia where they can stay in isolation with the greatest possible degree of safety from infection. There is currently fear that because of the Austrian border crossing regime, they will not be able to travel abroad unless their country changes the conditions for returning citizens. They are less concerned about the Croatian border regime," Toničić said.

Germany

Similar information also comes from Germany, Croatia's most important travel market. The director of the HTZ office there, Romeo Draghicchi, says that Germans are eager to travel but are still delaying booking their holidays and following coronavirus developments both at home and abroad.

Tour operators and airlines will adjust their services to destinations for which German authorities will not prescribe a quarantine on return to the country. Everyone agrees that any facilitation of travel between European countries will positively affect the tourist turnover said.

"The number of Germans who visited Croatia in 2020, mostly in the two main summer months, was about 50% lower than that in the record year 2019. If the coronavirus situation gets back to normal before June and lasts until the end of September, this market season could be more successful than last year. Still, total results will depend on the overall situation with the virus in Europe, especially in Croatia," Draghicchio said.

He said that Germans are mostly asking about general conditions for entering Croatia, including types of testing. At the same time, property owners are mainly interested in simplified entry procedures, such as short-term visits to check their vessel or house.

"Currently, booking for Croatia in Germany is at 30% of last year's level, but it is expected to pick up in the lead-up to the summer provided that the pandemic subsides. Everyone is hoping for a positive scenario, a longer season, and better results than those achieved in 2020," Draghicchio said.

He said that "a certain number of Germans" will visit Croatia already for the Easter holidays. They are mostly inquiring about Istria, which is currently designated as a safe travel destination from which Germans can return home without undergoing testing or staying in a quarantine.

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ZAGREB, 19 March, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Thursday that Croatia had contacted two Chinese COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers and that talks were at at an initial stage, while Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the situation with AstraZeneca's vaccine proved that caution was important.

"We have established contact with manufacturers of the Chinese vaccine, or more precisely, with manufacturers of two types of Chinese vaccine. We have been given some preliminary information and talks will continue," Beroš told a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

He said that all important aspects of the vaccines needed to be discussed, such as safety, efficiency and quality.

Plenković said that the situation with AstraZeneca "is more than clear proof of how one needs to be cautious when placing a vaccine on the market."

"We are now talking about the credibility of a vaccine that has passed clearance and filters in America, the United Kingdom and the European Union. What would we do with vaccines that have none of these credentials? We have to take that into account," the prime minister warned.

Easter passes not discussed

As regards the deterioration in the epidemiological situation and possible passes for Easter, Plenković said that no one talked about such passes and that they were not an option.

He said that Croatia had now ordered more vaccine from Pfizer than from AstraZeneca, but added that at this point no one knew at what rate vaccines would be distributed from 1 May onward. "If a negative scenario happens with AstraZeneca, we are already in the process of ordering more vaccine from Pfizer to offset that."

He said he was confident that progress would be made on a corrective mechanism for vaccine distribution because "people understand that it is not countries that are responsible for this situation."

Asked if he was satisfied with how the EU handled vaccine procurement, Plenković said there was no doubt that the contracts could have been better written in terms of the pace of vaccine delivery. As for people's scepticism about the safety of vaccines, he said it was also important what the media said about them.

"We need to respect authorities on this matter, and our authorities are the World Health Organisation, the European Medicines Agency and the Croatian Agency for Medicines and Medicinal Devices. These are regulators. If a vast majority of professionals from a large number of countries think that this is all right, then we should use that for guidance. That's the most logical and best approach we can take," the prime minister said.

Additional encouragement to regional approach

The head of the national coronavirus response team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said that the team would unveil guidelines for the Adriatic counties on Friday as an additional encouragement to the county response teams because the incidence rate differed from county to county.

"We do not think it is time for horizontal measures, especially not in those counties, and there are more of them in the north of the country, where the epidemiological situation is good," Božinović said.

He noted that county response teams had been invited from the outset to propose tighter restrictions because their epidemiologists and professionals on the ground know where a coronavirus hotspot has emerged and what has caused it.

"This regional approach is not just an encouragement, but also a preparation for what is and what will become an integral part of the EU policy for the tourist season," Božinović said, calling for increased inspections of compliance with the restrictions in place and for self-discipline.

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

ZAGREB, 19 March, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has performed 6,553 tests for coronavirus and 1,112 of them, or 17%, have returned positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Friday.

Currently, there are 6,426 active cases in the country, and of them, 918 patients are receiving hospital treatment, including 80 placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, the death toll related to COVID-19 has increased by 17 to 5,743.

Since the outbreak of this infectious disease in late February last year, as many as 1.46 million tests have been performed, and 255,619 people have turned out to be positive. Of them, 243,450 have recovered, including 785 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 21,803 persons are self-isolating.

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

ZAGREB, 18 March, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 1,197 new coronavirus cases and 17 COVID deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

The number of active cases is 6,116, including 894 hospitalised patients, of whom 84 are on ventilators, while 20,528 people are self-isolating.

To date Croatia has registered 254,507 coronavirus cases, 5,726 COVID deaths and 242,665 recoveries, including 554 in the past 24 hours, and 1,454,984 persons have been tested for the virus, including 7,619 in the past 24 hours. The positive rate of tests in the last 24 hours was 15.7%.

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

ZAGREB, 17 March, 2021 - The number of new coronavirus infections in Croatia is up by 46% from last week and among the 12 COVID fatalities in the past 24 hours is a 12-year-old girl who had multiple comorbidities, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

"In the three days of this week, we had 2,265 new cases, while in the first three days of last week, we had 1,547. The incidence is 222.7, the lowest  being in Istria County and highest in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County," said Krunoslav Capak, head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

In EU rankings, Croatia is seventh with the lowest incidence. Today 16.7% of the test results were positive (1,445 cases).

British variant detected in 50% of samples

Speaking of new variants, Capak said the British one was present in more than 50% of the sequenced samples.

"These new variants spread somewhat faster, and due to vaccination, nicer weather and the favourable situation we have had, people have relaxed. There is more and more socialising, gatherings, which is the biggest risk for the spread of coronavirus infection," he said, adding that the classic epidemiological measures were also effective against the new variants.

Asked if Croatia was in a third wave of the epidemic, Capak said it was difficult to say but that the important thing was to continue to fight to cut down the numbers of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Speaking of the 12-year-old girl who died of COVID in the past 24 hours, Capak said she had a serious cardiovascular comorbidity.

He went on to say that less than 30% of people had refused the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Asked if the ministers who had recovered from COVID would be given that vaccine to promote it and if the vaccination of people over 65 with AstraZeneca would be suspended for fear of side effects, Capak said the response team was not considering either.

He said "we believe we have no reason" to suspend the administration of AstraZeneca to those over 65, adding that the European Medicines Agency's "commission on side effects is intensively investigating all side effects."

He said there was no difference in the occurrence of side effects with either Pfizer or AstraZeneca and that it was 0.5% in each.

Božinović: Existing regime should stay

The head of the national response team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said the existing regime of restrictions should stay and that possible changes should be made at county level.

Asked if restrictions would be tightened ahead of Easter, he said this regime could be kept up only if everyone was responsible and disciplined.

"In recent days the virus has been rapidly spreading in some parts of Croatia, so the measures should be considered at county level. Serious measures are in force, although they are the least restrictive in the European Union, and we will keep this regime only if everyone assumes responsibility."

Božinović said some counties were already tightening restrictions based on their epidemiological situation.

He would not comment on the suspension of vaccination with AstraZeneca in some countries despite there being no proof that some deaths were related to the vaccine. "We always explain the background of our decisions transparently and publicly, including this one to continue to administer AstraZeneca."

The head of Zagreb's Infections Diseases Hospital, Alemka Markotić, said she could not say how big the increase was in the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, adding that the outcomes of the children treated in her hospital were continually good and that the percentage was not high.

"The important thing is that the syndrome has been recognised. Our doctors manage to deal with it well and there are no major problems for now."

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

ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that Croatia would continue to administer the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine despite the fact that some 20 countries have suspended vaccination due to blood clotting in some patients.

Although more and more countries are suspending the use of AstraZeneca, Croatia will wait for the opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

"The stand of professionals on this matter is that the benefits of vaccination outweigh any risks known to them at the moment," Plenković told the press in Daruvar. "None of them has pointed to us any risks which would lead to the conclusion that vaccination should stop."

Today Plenković took part in an online meeting with prime ministers Sebastian Kurz of Austria, Janez Janša of Slovenia, Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria, Andrej Babiš of the Czech Republic, and Arturs Karinš of Latvia.

The six EU member states will demand a corrective mechanism for vaccine distribution, Plenković said afterwards. "We agreed to jointly appeal for the creation of a corrective mechanism."

Thereby, he added, they wish to "compensate for the delay some countries have experienced due to the slower distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine."

EMA will meet on Thursday to discuss the information gathered and decide if said vaccine has contributed to thromboembolism in people who have received it.

For more about vaccination in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - The Koprivnica-Križevci County's COVID-19 crisis management team on Tuesday decided to suspend mass vaccination with AstraZeneca shots against COVID-19, which was set for Wednesday, 17 March, until the European Medicines Agency (EMA) decides on the matter at its meeting on 18 March.

The mass inoculation was to have been held in a hall in Sveti Petar Orehovec for the residents of that town as well as for residents of Gornja Reka and Kalnik.

However, in the meantime it has been decided to wait for the EMA's decision.

To date, 6,363 residents of this county in north Croatia have been inoculated against coronavirus with Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, and 1,961 have received both doses of the two-dose vaccine. There have been no reports of any serious side-effects.

The people who get vaccinated with vaccines registered in Croatia and the EU will have protection from getting seriously sick, which could eventually result in death, the team said.

For more about vaccatinations in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.