ZAGREB, November 26, 2020 - More than half of Croatia's population is at risk of developing a severe form of COVID-19, that risk is high for more than a million people while more than 1.5 million are in the category of at-risk people, the Vecernji List daily says on Thursday.

The daily says the data comes from a COVID-19 vaccination plan which has already been prepared and which defines, among other things, vaccination priorities.

According to the plan, current priority groups are health workers, residents of retirement and nursing homes and their staff, as well as employees of other welfare institutions.

These groups are followed by people above the age of 80, followed by people aged 75-79, people aged 70-74, and people aged 65-69. They are followed by adults under the age of 60 with high or moderate risk and others. The others category covers, for example, education workers.

The plan also provides for the vaccination of vulnerable groups, namely people who are at risk of developing a severe form of the disease or complications or are at risk of dying, the daily says.

First vaccines could be available in Croatia by New Year

The Jutarnji List daily reports today that the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech could be made available to US and European citizens by the end of December.

The vaccine is expected to be registered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) around December 10, and the first vaccinations could start in the US the next day.

As for the EU, the registration of the vaccine with the European Medicines Agency could be completed a few days later and EU countries could obtain the first, modest quantities of the vaccine already by December 20, depending on their population size.

According to some reports, Croatia could obtain between 20,000 and a maximum of 50,000 vaccines by the New Year, which would be used primarily to vaccinate medical workers and staff at retirement homes.

Since the vaccine, which is up to 95% efficient, is applied twice, within a space of 14 days, this means that the quantity will be sufficient for the vaccination of 10,000-25,000 people.

ZAGREB, November 26, 2020 - Croatia has registered a record 4,009 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours and 51 people have died, the national coronavirus response team reported on Thursday morning.

The number of active cases is now 21,725. Of them, 2,171 are being treated in hospitals, including 252 who are on ventilators.

The previous record was set on Wednesday when 3,603 new infections were reported.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 115,626 people have contracted the novel virus, 1,552 of them have died and 92,349 have recovered, including 2,924 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 50,165 people are in self-isolation.

To date, 713,729 people have been tested, including 11,487 in the last 24 hours.

November 25, 2020 - New measures for bars and restaurants in Croatia are likely to come into force from midnight on Saturday, November 28, and should last until Christmas Eve.

UPDATE: Index.hr confirmed on Thursday evening that these measures are final and will be announced by the Headquarters on Thursday. 

A meeting of the Chief of the National Headquarters and Interior Minister Davor Božinovic was held with the prefects.

As Index.hr finds out, the final decision has been made to close all cafes and restaurants. The new strict measures should take effect at midnight, the beginning of November 28, and should last until Christmas Eve.

“The argument is that they are turning into disco clubs,” one of the meeting participants told Index.

According to Index, wedding ceremonies are temporarily suspended, and fitness centers, according to the latest information, remain open, but they must provide 10 square meters per user.

It was also confirmed that shops and shopping centers will continue to operate, but supervision will be intensified to ensure that the number of customers in them is in line with the prescribed number per square meter.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A meeting of ministers on the new measures lasted through Wednesday afternoon, and while nothing is finalized yet, Index.hr gave us a closer look at what we can expect. 

Thus, there could be a complete closure of cafes, while restaurants and bakeries will remain open for delivery only.

Food delivery would be possible, until 10 pm, and the ban on the sale of alcohol from 10 pm to 6 am will not change.

Hotels should remain open, and their restaurants will be able to work, but only for hotel guests.

If the number of new cases begins to drop and the measures prove successful, then bars, cafes, and restaurants would reopen on Christmas Eve. 

Shops would work as before, but there would be a stronger control over whether their capacity follows the prescribed measure per square meter. Craftspeople would continue to work, so hairdressing salons and other beauty salons and shopping centers would remain open, while cinemas would close.

The new set of measures would also reduce the number of passengers in public transport, and epidemiologists advocate that it be about 25 percent of the total capacity of public transport. 

Although epidemiologists are advocating the closure of gyms, it is not yet certain that this will happen, since gyms have been mostly empty.

As far as schools are concerned, for now, teaching would not be completely switched to online but will continue to be done in schools. High schools could partially transition to online teaching, and colleges are mostly already working that way.

The Headquarters would not introduce travel restrictions from county to county as they did during the first lockdown.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic addressed the media on Wednesday, as reported by Jutarnji List.

"We'll talk about measures tomorrow. Minister Božinović is currently consulting with the counties," he said when asked about the details of the new epidemiological measures that will be introduced.

"The measures will last until before Christmas. It's not that far. If epidemiologists ask, they could take longer," he said.

"We have shown throughout the crisis that we care about entrepreneurship. We will find and strive to find solutions," he added.

When asked if the state has the money for that, he answered: "It will."

Plenkovic did not want to explain the details, and only repeated that everything would be discussed on Thursday.

He commented on the fact that the measures are being introduced, although less than a week has passed since the new measures were introduced.

"We are considering the situation all the time. I said then that we should introduce measures and monitor the situation and consider the introduction of new measures," Plenkovic concluded.

To read more about coronavirus in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, Nov 25, 2020 - There are currently 94 COVID patients in Cakovec hospital and since 130 inpatient beds have been prepared, the health system is close to being filled to capacity as only 30% of the capacity is available, hospital director Tomislav Novinscak warned on Wednesday.

Croatian Medical Chamber president Kresimir Luetic visited the Cakovec hospital and met with the management of the hospital and the Medjimurje County Public Health Institute.

The hospital director said that of the 94 hospitalised COVID patients, 13 were on ventilators.

"We are seeing an increase as we have released eight and admitted 12 patients. We also have about ten positive doctors, which is not a big issue for now, but an increase in the number of infected staff members is visible," Novinscak said.

Percentage of positive tests yesterday at 57%

Medjimurje County Public Health Institute head Marina Payerl-Pal said that there were currently 1,312 infected persons and the 14-day incidence rate was above 1,400.

"Yesterday we registered the highest percentage of positive tests of 57%. Over 400 people were tested, that is a really large number and there is a similar trend today," Payerl-Pal said.

The HLK president, Cakovec hospital director and head of the Medjimurje Public Health Institute agreed that stricter measures were introduced late.

Luetic said that the consequences of the epidemic could be seen in the hospital.

"We believe that the current measures are insufficient and that the influx of patients in the Cakovec hospital and some others is putting too much strain on the health system," the HLK president said.

He added that even after three weeks, stricter measures requested by the profession had not been adopted at the national level.

Luetic warned that with a death rate like the current one, "corona is on its way to become the leading cause of daily deaths in Croatia".

ZAGREB, November 25, 2020 - In the past 24 hours a record 3,603 coronavirus infections have been registered in Croatia and 56 COVID-19 patients have died, the national COVID response team said on Wednesday.

There are 20,691 active cases, including 2,136 hospitalised patients, 240 of whom are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was registered in Croatia, 111,617 persons have been positive for the novel coronavirus, 1,501 have died, and 89,425 have recovered, including 2,017 in the past 24 hours.

Currently 45,518 persons are self-isolating. To date, 702,242 persons have been tested for the virus, including 10,194 in the past 24 hours.

November the 25th, 2020 - Could Croatia introduce mandatory coronavirus vaccination when the vaccine becomes available and arrives in the country? For some the idea is excellent, for others it is quite the opposite. Regardless of the ins and outs, Minister Davor Bozinovic hasn't ruled the idea out completely.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after the meeting with numerous county prefects, Minister Davor Bozinovic presented a new set of strict measures that should be in force until Christmas, you can read them here. As previously touched on, the possibility of Croatia introducing mandatory coronavirus vaccination for the entire population hasn't been ruled out.

When asked by journalists whether the vaccine against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 will become mandatory here in Croatia, the Minister was not explicit in his response, but he left such a possibility open.

''There are vaccines that are already mandatory. That vaccine would reduce the spread of the infection,'' replied Bozinovic, explaining that according to Croatia's Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, there are vaccines that are indeed mandatory.

''Certainly, we need to know that in order for the vaccine to stop the epidemic, then the estimate [of the population which needs to be vaccinated] needs to stand at 70 percent, we're absolutely going to make sure that happens,” he assured, noting that it remains to be seen what the coming months will bring and what that will mean for decision making.

The head of the National Civil Protection Headquarters also noted that additional efforts should be made when it comes to communication with people when it comes to the measures and decisions regarding the pandemic and he asked for the media to help in that.

"Croatia has an obligation to vaccinate against some diseases. There's no mandatory coronavirus vaccine because all of this is brand new, but [should that be decided] it wouldn't be some sort of new thing,'' he noted.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

ZAGREB, Nov 24, 2020 - Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic announced on Tuesday that the national coronavirus response team would prepare a new set of more stringent measures against the coronavirus epidemic that would become effective later this week and remain in force until Christmas. 

Bozinovic made the announcement after a meeting with county prefects.

"Tomorrow the national coronavirus response team will prepare a new set of measures which will be presented to the county prefects and which will be in force until some time before Christmas. These will be more stringent measures. Some people think that the measures already in place are enough, but the numbers are not falling, so we are moving forward with new measures taking into account that this is a long battle," Bozinovic told a press conference.

He said that the new measures would target specific sectors of the economy, notably hospitality, as well as culture and partly education.

"We are bringing in measures to protect people's lives, but on the other hand we must also bear in mind the economic aspect and see to what extent closures can have a negative impact on the mental state of the nation," Bozinovic said.

"Draft measures will be prepared for the inner cabinet and presented to the county prefects. We will see their reactions and then take a decision that will enter into force most likely before the end of this week," he added.

The purpose of the new measures is to stop the spread of the virus, ease the burden on the healthcare system and ensure that all patients, not just those infected with the coronavirus, receive adequate healthcare, Bozinovic said..

He said that as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Croatia it was necessary to vaccinate as many people as possible, adding that 70 percent of the adult population would need to be vaccinated to stop the epidemic.

Responding to questions from the press, Bozinovic said that introducing a curfew was never an option and that there would definitely not be another lockdown like the one in the spring.

ZAGREB, Nov 24, 2020 - The Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ), in cooperation with Zagreb's sewage management authority, has launched a project to test sewage in an effort to identify possible traces of the COVID-19 virus.

Analysis of sewage is used to determine the presence of biological or chemical matter for the purpose of monitoring public health and it has been used to identify the presence of pharmaceutical or industrial waste, medicaments and viruses and the potential emergence of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

Recent research has shown that identifying traces of coronavirus in sewage can help in monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19, HZJZ has said. 

The project is being conducted in cooperation with the World Health Organisation in Croatia and is being financed by the German government.

Similar testing is already being conducted in several countries around the world including Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain and France.

Monitoring sewage can lead to predicting the outbreak of infection

Even though these analyses cannot identify people who are infected, they can detect coronavirus RNA in human feces several days to a week before symptoms develop. Research has shown that by monitoring sewage it is possible to predict the outbreak of infection before individual testing and hospitalisation.

"This kind of testing is an early warning tool," HZJZ said.

ZAGREB, Nov 24, 2020 - The European Commission will on Wednesday approve yet another contract to pre-order 160 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from the US biotech company Moderna, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday. 

“I am happy to announce that tomorrow we will approve a new contract to secure another COVID-19 vaccine in our vaccine portfolio," von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels.

This is the sixth contract the Commission will sign with pharmaceutical companies for the purchase of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Von der Leyen said that the EU was working on another contract as well, stressing that the EU would have the largest vaccine portfolio in the world. She added that the vaccines would be made available after undergoing thorough checks by the European Medicines Agency.

The Commission president said that a vaccine was the most effective way to stop the pandemic and that therefore the priority was to get vaccines quickly. Another priority was to to make sure that the vaccines were available to everyone in the world, she added.

Von der Leyen noted that the EU had already made a great contribution to securing a sufficient number of doses of vaccines for poor countries.

The Moderna company announced last week that based on results from the final stage of clinical trials its experimental vaccine was 94.5 percent effective against COVID-19.

ZAGREB, Nov 24, 2020 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 2,323 new cases of coronavirus while 47 people have died as a consequence of the infection, the national COVID-19 response team said on Tuesday.

There are now 19,161 active cases in the country, including 2,093 hospitalised patients, of whom 244 are on ventilators.

Forty-seven people have died.

Since 25 February, when the first case of coronavirus was identified in Croatia, a total of 108,014 people have been infected with the virus and 1,445 have died.

A total of 87,408 have recovered, of whom 2,390 within the last 24 hours.

There are currently 40,762 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 692,048 tests for the virus have been conducted, including 8,944 in the past 24 hours.

127 residents of aged care facility in Lika-Senj County infected

Of 154 residents in an aged care facility for people with mental disorders in the central town of Otocac, Lika-Senj County, 127 are positive for coronavirus, the local COVID-19 response team said.

Seven have been hospitalised but none are in critical condition.

Fourteen employees of the home had previously tested positive for coronavirus.

Currently, there are 355 active cases of the infection in Lika-Senj County.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in that county, 1,225 people have contracted the disease, 836 have recovered and 34 have died.