ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 - The head of the national COVID response team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said on Thursday that the epidemiological measures in force until midnight tonight would be extended, underscoring that the restrictions would not be tightened at the national level, but as necessary from county to county.

Speaking to the press after a meeting of the government's Scientific Advisory Council, Božinović said that meeting mostly focused on the current situation with the spread of coronavirus.

County response teams, he added, will adopt stricter measures depending on the epidemiological situation which at the moment will not be ramped up at the national level.

He said that the situation varies from county to county, adding that currently Primorje-Gorski Kotar has the strictest measures.

Vaccines no longer doubtful in Croatia 

Božinović announced that an additional 50 million doses of vaccines were arriving in the EU in the second quarter and he expressed hope that the number of doses for Croatia would not be brought into question.

He added that the experts had different opinions regarding school lessons but there is no reason now to change the decision for schools to go online as the number of those infected is not falling but actually increasing.

Asked what number would be required to ramp up restrictions according to the experts, Božinović said that some countries that introduced so-called traffic lights had tied their own hands in some situations.

"We are referring to trends here. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and applying measures on a county to county basis. I think that we won't refrain from that approach as it has shown to be correct so far," he underscored.

Croatia has not registered the experiences with AstraZeneca's vaccination like in other countries

As far as mistrust towards the AstraZeneca vaccine is concerned, Božinović said that reports by the HALMED medical agency and the Croatian Institute for Public Health "have not had any experiences that are being referred to in other countries."

However, it will be necessary to improve the trust in that vaccine through communication with the public, recalling that government members, including the Prime Minister, were inoculated with that vaccine.

"It is important for the overall public to realise that the pandemic has affected all four corners of the earth and that we will come out of this situation when an adequate solution is applied in all the countries affected by COVID," Božinović underlined, adding that it was important for the vaccine to be available everywhere.

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

ZAGREB, 15 April, 2021 -  Of 10,876 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia in the last 24 hours, 27%, that is 2,927, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Thursday.

The COVID-related death toll has risen by 43 to 6,442.

Currently, there are 15,307 active cases of the infection, including 1,988 patients in hospitals, of whom 179 are placed on ventilators.

A total of 29,551 people are self-isolating.

Since the confirmation of the first case of the infection with the novel virus on 25 February 2020, Croatia has performed 1 674 418 tests, and to date 300,900 people have tested positive. Of them, 279,151 have recovered from this disease, including 1,457 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, under the Croatia's vaccine rollout plan, 617,516 doses have been administered. As many as 381,164 people have received the first shot of the two-dose vaccine, while 117,283 have been inoculated with both doses.

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

April 14, 2021 - With the season approaching, the question on everyone's mind is will traveling during the coronavirus pandemic to Croatia bring problems for tourism in the country?' A light at the end of the tunnel still might be possible.

While many high-reputation magazines regularly praise Croatia as a top destination, this summer, the season will be only as strong as the health situation regarding coronavirus – both in Croatia and abroad, from where the country welcomes as many tourists as possible. Sadly, as Croatian National Radiotelevision (HRT) reports, due to the bad pandemic situation, many European countries, including Croatia, are canceling the travel season.

While, as we reported on TCN, many flights are returning and coming to Croatia, the measures are possibly demotivating travelers.

HRT says Croatia is declared as a highly-risked country in Germany, and returning citizens need to show a negative test that is no older than 48 hours which is a change to previous arrangments when Germans could test after returning home.

„The English planned to allow traveling from May 17 but tour operators and others don't have a big number of reservations to make it profitable so everything is postponed until June 24“, said hotelier  Domagoj Tomasović to HRT. 

British tourists were indeed expected mid-May, but as Darija Reić, director of the Croatian Tourist Board in London, said on the "Good Morning Croatia show" on HRT, there are still fines for non-essential travel.

„Travelling outside of UK is still illegal if you don't travel for essential reasons which include traveling for business, education or medicinal purposes. Otherwise, it's possible to be fined 5000 pounds“, explained Reić, as noted by Turizmoteka.

Tonči Glavina, state secretary for Tourism ministry, said for HRT that the UK is not alone in sending a message to its citizens to not travel anywhere and went on to say that may not be bad for Croatia.

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While the UK stands better in the percentage of vaccinated people than Croatia, Croatians are focusing on reaching the green zone by the end of May. Seventy thousand vaccinated workers in the tourist sector are the goal for the country.

„If that doesn't happen until the start of the season, then we need tests and it would be good if tourist board make testing zones and if we co-finance the expenses of testing to our guests“, concluded Tomasović.

The Ministry of Tourism already secured 20 million kuna to co-finance testing for tourists if Croatia doesn't reach the green zone.

PCR tests currently cost 500 kuna; quick antigen test is 150 kuna, and the translations of the results to English is 125 kuna. Twenty tourists were already tested in Zagreb on Tuesday. 

Learn more about coronavirus: news and travel in Croatia on our TC page.

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

ZAGREB, 14 April, 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 3,099 new coronavirus cases while 41 people have died as a consequence, the national COVID response team reported on Wednesday.

That is a significantly higher number of infections and deaths compared to Tuesday when 1,936 new cases and 25 deaths were registered.

There are 13,880 active cases in the country, including 1,955 hospitalised patients, of whom 185 are on ventilators. There are currently 27,528 people in self-isolation.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of coronavirus was detected in Croatia, there have been a total of 297,973 people infected with the virus and 6,399 people have died as a consequence. A total of 277,694 have recovered from the disease, including 1,274 in the past 24 hours.

To date a total of 1,663,542 have been tested for the virus, including 11,017 in the past 24 hours.

As of 13 April a total of 605,423 doses of vaccines have been administered, inoculating 491,601 people. Of that number, 375,993 people have received the first dose and 113,822 have received both doses. For 1,786 people there was no data on which dose they received.

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

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - Foreign tourists who generate at least one bed night in Zagreb can be tested for COVID-19 at 50% of the price and about 20 have already been tested over the weekend, the director of the Zagreb Tourist Board (TZGZ), Martina Bienenfeld, said on Tuesday.

TZGZ is the first regional tourist board in Croatia that has opened a testing station for foreign tourists as had previously been proposed by Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac.

Testing to be co-financed

In addition to opening the testing station, TZGZ has decided to cofinance testing that is conducted during weekends and public holidays, Bienenfeld told Hina.

TZGZ will cover half the cost of testing for tourists, she said, estimating that the greatest demand will be in the coming period and that that will depend on the percentage of inoculated tourists from the countries they are coming from, but also of employees in tourism and citizens themselves, and finally on the introduction of Digital Green Certificates at the EU level.

Testing during weekdays will be at the normal price and already about ten Zagreb hotels are providing testing services. Testing can also be conducted at Zagreb's airport.

Providing opportunity for tourists to extend their stay

"One of the important reasons why we decided to co-finance testing in the days noted is that this provides the opportunity for tourists to extend their stay in Zagreb, because they do not have to worry where and when they can be tested when returning to their countries and they can avoid quarantine," said Bienefeld.

All the necessary information regarding testing is available at www.infozagreb.hr/korona-virus in various languages, she said and added that the first tourists tested this way last weekend (10 and 11 April) were from Italy, Denmark, Germany and Albania.

Bienefeld said that since the beginning of the year until 11 April, almost 65,000 tourists had visited Zagreb and they generated 177,500 bed nights, which is about 47% of arrivals and 58% of bed nights generated in the comparable period in 2020.

Compared to the record 2019 year, that is about 27% and 37% of arrivals and bed nights respectively. 

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

ZAGREB, 13 April, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, 1,936 new cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Croatia, and there have been 25 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday.

Since the start of the epidemic in February 2020, 1,652,525 people have been tested for the virus, including 10,214 in the past 24 hours.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 12,096, including 1,948 people who are hospitalised, of whom 192 are on ventilators.

Currently 26,192 people are in self-isolation.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case of the infection, 294,874 people have contracted the novel coronavirus and 6,358 of them have died. A total of 276,420 people have recovered, including 1,659 in the last 24 hours.

As of 12 April, 595,369 doses of vaccine have been used, and 483,825 people have been vaccinated.

Of them, 370,544 people have received the first dose, and 111,544 have received both doses. For 1,737 people, there is no data on which dose they have received.

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

April 11, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, 1,617 new cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Croatia, and there have been 39 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Sunday.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 13,241, a decrease of 425 from Saturday.

There are 1,870 COVID patients in hospitals, 182 of whom are on ventilators.

There are currently 28,645 people in self-isolation.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case of the infection, 292,516 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 6,308 of them have died, and 272,967 have recovered, including 2,003 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 1,639,110 people have been tested, 9,307 of whom over the past 24 hours.

As of 10 April, 583,931 doses of vaccine have been used, and 473,522 people have been vaccinated. Of them, 361,385 people have received the first dose, and 110,409 have received both doses. For 1,728 people, there is no data on which dose they have received.

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

April 10, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 2,535 new coronavirus cases and 34 COVID-19-related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday. 

The number of active cases currently stands at 13,666, an increase of 466 from Friday. Among them are 1,796 people who are receiving hospital treatment, including 180 who are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 290,899 people have been registered as having contracted the new virus, of whom 6,269 have died and 270,964 have recovered, including 2,035 in the last 24 hours. Currently, 29,718 people are in self-isolation.

A total of 1,629,803 people have been tested to date, including 10.140 in the last 24 hours. So far 565,785 vaccine doses have been used and 458,762 people have been vaccinated, of whom 350,053 have received one dose and 107,023 both doses. For 1,868 persons there is no data on how many doses they have received.

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

ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 50 COVID-19-related fatalities and 2,599 new cases of coronavirus infection, after 8,994 samples were tested, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Friday.

The number of active cases in Croatia today stands at 13,200.

There are 1,768 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 175 of whom are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case of the infection, a total of 288,364 people have contracted coronavirus and 6,235 of them have died.

A total of 268,929 people have recovered, including 2,116 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 26,425 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,619,663 people have been tested, 8,994 of whom have been tested over the past 24 hours.

As of 8 April, 543,436 doses of vaccine have been used, and 440,890 people have been vaccinated. Of them, 336,693 people have received the first dose, and 102,546 have received both doses. For 1,651 people there is no data on which dose they have received.

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

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 3,217 new cases of coronavirus infection, which is almost twice as many as on Wednesday when there were 1,649 new cases, and there have been 36 deaths, according to data from the national COVID-19 crisis management team released on Thursday.

The number of active cases in Croatia today stands at 12,767. There are 1,756 COVID patients in hospitals, 171 of whom are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case of the infection, a total of 285,765 people have contracted coronavirus, 6,185 of them have died and 266,813 have recovered, including 1,775 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 28,763 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,610,669 people have been tested, 11,216 of whom have been tested over the past 24 hours.

As of 7 April, 533,409 doses of vaccine have been used, and 432,601 people have been vaccinated. Of them, 330,142 people have received the first dose, and 100,808 have received both doses. For 1,651 people, there is no data on which dose they have received.

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