June 14th, 2021 - The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) on Monday signed the Covid Guarantee Agreement in the amount of €50 million for loans taken by Croatian mid-caps and large corporations to help them recover from effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a joint press release, EIB and HBOR said the EIB contribution valued at €25 billion stems from the European guarantee fund (EGF) set up by EIB in 2020 to accelerate post-COVID recovery, job keeping measures, and to provide much-needed liquidity for European companies.

This is the first EIB operation in Croatia stemming from the EGF, following three EGF operations implemented by the European Investment Fund (EIF). The EIF operations provided guarantees for €350 million in loans. Today’s agreement with HBOR puts the total amount of loans guaranteed by the EGF in Croatia to €513 million,  the press release notes.

Teresa Czerwinska, vice president of the EIB, who is in charge of Croatia, said that the "EIB-HBOR agreement is good news for Croatian economy and local mid-caps and large corporations. It brings further economic relief crucial for faster recovery from the COVID-19 crisis."

Tamara Perko, President of the Management Board of HBOR, said that this Guarantee Agreement "will enable HBOR to approve loans with lower collateral requirements to mid-caps and large companies."

These benefits will be available for direct working capital loans and investment loans to mid-caps under the existing HBOR’s loan programs. It is our pleasure that the EIB has recognized HBOR as its first partner for cooperating under this program in Croatia, which makes it possible for us to offer further benefits to our entrepreneurs irrespective of their size," said Perko.

Croatian companies whose loans were approved six months before the agreement between EIB and HBOR can apply for the guarantees provided the loan agreements were signed after the European Commission approved state support to introduce this financial facility for Croatia.

The EIB reported that the EGF had approved funding amounting to almost half its target for 2021. After clearance under the EU state aid notification process in December 2020, the initiative has now approved €11.7 billion in support of European businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is almost half the fund’s target for 2021.

The fund mobilizes additional financing, and initiatives approved so far are expected to generate €93.9 billion in funding and investments for the EU economy, the press release notes.

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June 14th, 2021 - Commenting on the reaction by Health Minister Vili Beroš, who left a cafe on Sunday because the waitress wasn't wearing a mask, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said that a decision adopted in October 2020 by the national COVID response team regulates wearing a mask for personnel in hospitality.

"In my opinion, Beroš acted the only way a health minister could. If anyone is obliged to point out protective measures against the epidemic while it still lasts, then that is the health minister," Božinović underscored on Monday in Zadar, where he opened the police offices for the person charged with the implementation of safety measures during the 2021 tourism season.

Asked by reporters about the fact that the waitress claimed that she had respiratory problems, which was why she could not wear a mask, Božinović added: "Unfortunately had she said that straight away, I'm certain we would not be talking about that today. As far as I am aware, she has a doctor's certificate. I don't know that wasn't said straight away. The minister would have accepted that because he is a doctor," said Božinović, who is also the head of the national COVID response team.

Asked about several concerts announced where no special measures will be imposed, Božinović said he wasn't aware of these events.

"But if they do exist, that is the responsibility of local civil protection teams. The national team cannot be expected to know and take account of every single event," he said, adding that several possibilities are planned for the event industry if the epidemiological situation continues to improve.

He underscored that "the lower numbers should not lull us into a false sense that the virus doesn't exist."

"We need to avoid risky situations. It has already been confirmed that six people became infected during the celebration of the basketball victory in Zadar last week. The epidemiological institute and all relevant services have to locate their contacts and see how to stop those numbers because when you observe the numbers, then it is obvious that there are more infections in Zadar county than other Dalmatian counties," he said.

Health Minister Vili Beroš on Monday denied claims on social networks that he was two kunas short on his tab when he walked out of the cafe after the waitress who served him wasn't wearing a mask. When asked about the incident by reporters, Beroš replied, "Do you think that a government minister would owe two kunas to anyone?"

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

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June 14th, 2021 -  Croatia Coronavirus Update has registered 18 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours while 13 COVID patients people have died, the national COVID response team reported on Monday.

The number of new cases was 25 fewer than last Monday when 43 new cases were identified. Currently, 404 COVID patients are hospitalized around the country, with 26 of them on ventilators.

There are 847 active cases in Croatia, while 6,012 persons are in self-isolation.

Croatia has registered 358,581 cases of the novel crisis since the first case was identified in February 2020, while the death toll has climbed to 8,152. A total of 349,582 have recovered from the contagion.

A total of 2,080,792 people have been tested for the virus, 2,082 of whom were tested in the past 24 hours.

So far, 1,412,939 people have received at least one dose, while 725,883 have received both doses.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

June 14th, 2021 - The head of the Croatian Public Health Institute, Krunoslav Capak, commented on the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) position that countries should avoid administering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people over 60 due to concern related to rare cases of blood clotting.

"As far as I know, it has only been decided that people with so-called capillary bleeding, which is an infrequent disorder connected with the lack of certain blood proteins, should not be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine," Capak said.

He added that contrary to reports on some Croatian web portals over the weekend, EMA did not conclude that the AstraZeneca vaccine would not be administered to people over 65.

"Now that incidence in Europe is much lower than it was when vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine started, the relative risks have been changing slightly for those who get infected and possibly develop a serious form of the disease and those who get vaccinated and develop a serious side effect," he said.

"Since those relative risks have changed, it is necessary to discuss the matter again at the European and national levels," the HZJZ head said in Virovitica-Podravina County, where he attended the start of a vaccination campaign by mobile teams visiting smaller communities by bus to inoculate their residents.

Capak was accompanied by Health Minister Vili Beroš, who dismissed claims on social networks that he did not fully pay his bill in a Zadar café which he left in protest at the fact that waiters were not wearing face masks.

Health minister comments on incident in Zadar café

"I talked to the cafe owner this morning. I did not leave the establishment without paying my bill in full," Beroš said.

"What kind of health minister would I be if I had stayed in the cafe... with waiters not wearing face masks," he said, explaining that he had kindly asked the waitress taking his order to put on a face mask but she ignored the request.

He noted that there were foreign guests in the cafe whose perception of Croatia was also formed on the basis of compliance with anti-epidemic measures.

As for questions if workers should wear face masks outdoors, Beroš said that that was necessary because waiters serving food and drinks in the open did so at less than two metres or a metre and a half from their guests.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

ZAGREB, 13 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 59 new COVID-19 cases, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.

A total of 358,563 cases of coronavirus have been registered in the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020.

Currently, 5,783 people are in self-isolation.

To date, a total of 2,078,716 people have been tested for the virus, including 4,489 in the past 24 hours.

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

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ZAGREB, 12 June, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with CNN on Friday that during the coronavirus crisis Croatia had combined public health protection measures and measures designed to help the business sector and financial system well, and that in that sense it had been successful. 

We have struck a balance between health and economic, that is, financial security, Plenković said in a programme called Quest Means Business.

Asked if in preparing for the tourist season Croatia had possibly relaxed epidemiological measures too much, given that tourism accounts for a significant portion of its economy and its experience from 2020, when tourism results were significantly lower than in 2019, Plenković said that Croatia had a stable economic growth before the coronavirus crisis, with a drop in the share of public debt in GDP and budget deficit.

We have supported workers and employers during the pandemic, spending more than HRK 10 billion for aid schemes intended for some 700,000 workers and that has been crucial, he said.

In the current stable political situation, the economy is crucial, he said, adding that Croatia's prospects of recovery were good because in the next seven years it could count on a total of €25 billion from European funds.

As for tourism, he said that it accounted for around one-fifth of GDP and that this year Croatia wanted to achieve results that were better than last year's.

"If we achieve 60-70% of the 2019 results, it will be very good," he said, adding that that was why extensive preparations, epidemiological and those related to security, had been undertaken in cooperation with airports, airlines, restaurants and others.

"Safe stay in Croatia is our main motto this summer," he said.

In response to the interviewer's remark that there have been a lot of objections in Europe about vaccination against COVID-19 being poorly coordinated and asked if he was satisfied with how the opening-up after lockdown and recovery were being coordinated, he said that he was absolutely satisfied with the coordination of recovery efforts, mentioning in that context the €750 billion secured by the EU for its member-states for that purpose.

He also noted that the coordination of the vaccination process in Europe was "very good, with a lot of solidarity" and that there was a sufficient quantity of vaccines.

As for the interviewer's remark that that was not so and that coordination was terrible and a fiasco, Plenković said that that was not true and that at first there had been delays in the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine but that nobody could have known that the company would be late with it.

Vaccination in Croatia now is running smoothly and anyone who wants to get vaccinated can do so, he said.

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

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ZAGREB, 12 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 125 new COVID-19 cases while nine people have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday.

There are currently 1,128 active cases in the country, including 408 hospitalised patients, 35 of whom are on ventilators.

A total of 358,504 cases of coronavirus have been registered in the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020 and 8,132 of them have died. A total of 349,244 people have recovered, including 195 in the past 24 hours.

Currently 6,445 people are in self-isolation.

To date a total of 2,074,221 people have been tested for the virus, including 4,701 in the past 24 hours.

By 11 June a total of 2,087,157 doses of vaccines were administered. So far 1,401,647 people have received at least one dose while 685,510 have received both shots.

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

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ZAGREB, 11 June 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 4,083 tests performed for coronavirus, 3.3%, that is 134, have returned as positive, and there have been 13 more COVID-related deaths increasing the death toll to 8,123, the Croatian COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Friday.

Currently, there are 1,207 active cases in Croatia, including 456 hospitalised patients of whom 44 are placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of this infectious disease in the country on 25 February 2020, 2.07 million tests have been performed, showing that 358,379 people have contracted this novel virus, and of them 349,049 have so far recovered, including 204 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

So far, more than 1.38 million people have received at least one shot of the COVID vaccine, and of them 656,325 have fully been vaccinated.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 184 new COVID cases while seven people have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

There are currently 1,290 active cases in the country, including 482 hospitalized patients, 48 of whom are on ventilators.

A total of 358,245 cases of coronavirus have been registered since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020 and 8,110 people have died. A total of 348,845 people have recovered, with 217 of them recovering in the past 24 hours.

Currently, 6,865 people are in self-isolation.

To date, a total of 2,065,437 people have been tested for the virus, including 5,435 in the past 24 hours.

By 9 June a total of 1,986,929 doses of vaccines were administered. So far 1,370,306 people have received at least one dose while 616,623 have received both shots.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

ZAGREB, 9 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has logged 275 new coronavirus cases and seven people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Wednesday.

There are 1,330 active cases in the country, including 520 hospitalised patients, 51 of whom are on ventilators.

Croatia has registered 358,061 cases of the novel coronavirus since it was first identified in the county on 25 February 2020 and 8,103 people have died as a consequence. A total of 348,628 people have recovered from the contagion, including 159 in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 6,819 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 2,060,002 tests have been conducted and of that number, 5,970 were conducted in the past 24 hours.

By 8 June a total of 1,947,784 doses of vaccines have been administered. So far 1,357,103 people have received at least one dose while 590,681 have received both shots.

On 8 June alone, 27,128 shots were administered, the response team said.

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