ZAGREB, 9 Feb 2022 - In the last 24 hours 11,299 coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia, nearly 4,000 fewer than last Wednesday, as well as 37 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

In the last 24 hours 16,904 persons have been tested for the virus.

There are 47,530 active cases, including 2,188 hospitalised patients, of whom 186 are hooked on to ventilators, while 20,788 persons are self-isolating.

To date 56.67% of the total population has been vaccinated, or 67.42% of adults, of whom 65.08% are fully vaccinated.

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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. 

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January 19, 2021 – 45 people tried to enter Croatia with fake PCR tests this weekend alone. They were caught by Croatian police, detained at the border and reported to the State's Attorney office. If found guilty, each faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison

Some 45 people tried to enter Croatia through the borders of one county with fake PCR tests this past weekend.

Travel from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Croatia currently requires the production of a negative PCR test or a doctor's certificate proving you have successfully passed through a COVID-19 infection in recent months.

Since the ban on entering Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina without a negative PCR test was introduced, fake PCR tests are increasingly being forged. Border police and customs officers at crossings in Brod-Posavina County have met many people trying to cross the border with fake PCR tests. But, this weekend a new record number of forged tests were found on the county's border crossings.

According to a statement from the Brod-Posavina Police Department, as many as 45 attempts to enter the country with fake PCR tests were discovered on Saturday and Sunday.

"At the Stara Gradiška border crossing, police officers determined that 43 persons, mostly citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, presented fake PCR tests issued in BiH at the border control. At the Slavonski Brod border crossing, two people were registered who gave forged tests," the Brod-Posavina police reported.

Police officers file criminal charges against all those suspected of committing the criminal offence of forgery of a document with the Municipal State Attorney's Office in Slavonski Brod. If found guilty, such persons face up to three years in prison.

The overall number of people detained on Croatia's border with fake PCR tests this weekend could actually be higher - the figures of 45 persons detained with fake PCR tests were released by the police of just one county in Croatia - Brod-Posavina County. A further eight Croatian counties exist along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each has border crossings between the two countries.

For a long time now, the amount one needs to fork out for a coronavirus test, which is mandatory for entry into certain countries, has been a problem for many. Minister Vili Beros recently announced that cheaper tests would soon be available for Croatian residents, and now the price has been confirmed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of July, 2020, the National Civil Protection Headquarters has announced the latest data on the situation with the coronavirus during a regular press conference held at 14:00, in which there was also talk of the new new prices for coronavirus tests.

"We have information from HZZO that by analysing the available data on reagent prices, more favourable reagents are on their way. The price of the testing will now be between 500 and 600 kuna. As such, we'd like to encourage the introduction of more cost-effective methods. HZZO will continue to monitor the market dynamics and determine the most favourable model,'' explained Health Minister Vili Beros.

So far, the single price was 1506 kuna for two antigens, but that price is changing, and it will more than likely be a sigh of relief for many cash-strapped people who are already struggling in the now enfeebled domestic economy which has been ravaged by the ongoing global pandemic.

In 21 institutions in which coronavirus testing is carried out, the price for those who want to be tested without a referral for two sequences will be 501 kuna, and for three sequences, it will cost 698 kuna. HZZO will continue to monitor the market dynamics and determine the most favourable model for coronavirus testing, with the hope of making the process a little easier on the currently shallow pockets of many.

"75 million kuna has been set aside for all coronavirus tests in Croatia. That was a month ago,'' added the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak.

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It is now understood, at least as things stand, that as many as 25 to 50 percent of those infected with the new coronavirus (COVID-19) may not develop any symptoms whatsoever, and serological testing should, as such, reveal just how many people have truly acquired immunity against coronavirus, or when we might expect "herd immunity" to occur, which is when most people become resistant to the virus.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of April, 2020, tests for antibodies in the blood will show how many people have carried the virus or have experienced some symptoms of it, but didn't know they had coronavirus. The director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, revealed to 24sata that a sample of one thousand people will be tested first. After that, the testing will progress to what's known as a stratified sample across all counties, many more people will be tested, and samples across all population categories will be taken.

"The purpose of these tests is to see how many people have gotten the virus, to know what level of immunity we have out there in the population, but also to let people who have been tested know that they're now immune and need not fear," explained Dr. Capak.

It will then be possible to monitor the immunity of a particular person over a longer period, and see whether the immunity acquired from coronavirus is short-lived or longer-lasting. Not much is known about it at the moment. These tests are not diagnostic in their nature, although they may of course also indicate that someone is acutely ill. They show, first of all, whether someone has developed the new coronavirus, what and how many antibodies against coronavirus they've developed and if they've now acquired immunity owing to that process.

The tests for this particular purpose were already supposed to have arrived in Croatia, but in the end it turned out that the suppliers of the tests couldn't be as quick as was desired, he added. Serological tests are being sought by the whole world amid the coronavirus pandemic - by the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom... millions of tests are being ordered.

''We ordered the first thousand, we were told they had them, but now we've been told that they can only arrive in seven to ten days from now, so we're looking for someone who can be quicker with delivery. In addition to that, much more extensive testing by counties has been registered as a project for EU funds [to pay for], we'll probably get the money, after which, this project can really begin,'' noted Capak.

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