February the 1st, 2022 - Croatian covid rules for travel outside of the country's borders are in force as of today. On top of that, a few other things are changing in regard to the epidemiological measures.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, when will the self-isolation rule for students be abolished, when does their mass testing begin? How will all of this be implemented? Are the schools ready for it? What will the new rules for determining the need for self-isolation look like amid the spread of Omicron and when can the application of these new Croatian covid rules be expected? These are all of the questions floating around as new Croatian covid rules enter into force.

The deputy director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Ivana Pavic Simetin, advisor to the Minister of Education Bozo Pavicin and the president of the Split-Dalmatia branch of the Association of Primary School Principals. Djuro Baloevic, all talked about this as guests of a recent Croatian Radio show.

Ivana Pavic Simetin first spoke about today's Croatian covid rules, with a special emphasis placed on people planning to travel outside of Croatia. She said the move was done to harmonise Croatian covid rules with those regarding travel at the European Union (EU) level.

''For the first time now, the European Commission (EC) is prescribing how long a covid certificate based on vaccination lasts. These certificates are valid for nine months as of full vaccination from today. The booster dose validity is unlimited for now, but administratively speaking, it will most likely remain valid for year from its receipt. If the scientific evidence reveals anything new about the long-term immunity following a person having their booster dose, then it would be extended depending on new findings,'' she said.

For those who were vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine and then caught and recovered from the new Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, she said that as far as EU digital certificates are concerned, all three types of certificates can be requested.

''One can be requested based on vaccination, one can be requested based on recovery, and then someone who catches Omicron following their vaccination can get a covid certificate which is valid for six months based on their recovery,'' she explained.

Regarding the shortening of the self-isolation period in the wake of Omicron, she said that the document which will go over every detail will be agreed upon in the coming days.

"The whole idea is based on new knowledge about the Omicron variant,'' said Pavic Simetin.

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January the 31st, 2022 - Croatian epidemiologist Bernard Kaic has stated that covid passes, often called covid certificates or even passports, are having less and less meaning or sense as time goes on and the epidemiological situation unfolds. It appears that the Omicron variant is changing many parameters.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, epidemiologist Bernard Kaic was a recent guest of Dnevnik Nova TV and commented on the current epidemiological situation across Croatia, including covid confirmations, the Omicron variant and vaccination.

"The fact is that covid passes make less and less sense as time goes on with the emergence and spread of the Omicron variant," epidemiologist Bernard Kaic said. Now, at the time of the spread of the new Omicron variant, those who aren't yet vaccinated are more likely to be contagious than the vaccinated are, according to a CNIPH study. The rules have already started to change because of this new strain. Soon, there will probably be more changes regarding the use of covid passes. There will be a lot of changes,'' he added rather vaguely.

Something is constantly changing in this pandemic, it's difficult to keep up with all of the latest changes. All of these changes are fertile ground for conspiracy theories and the acquisition of mistrust. Whoever wants to interpret the changes as a reason for a lack of trust or as some conspiracy theory - can, of course. The fact is that things are changing because the situation is changing, and it's doing so from week to week,'' he explained.

He added that worries that people are still not getting vaccinated enough and believes that those who have not done so yet should make sure they do as soon as possible.

"We still have a large number of elderly people who haven't yet been vaccinated. Omicron rarely causes severe clinical pictures, but with such a wide circulation, we do still have a large number of hospitalised people, and sadly people are still dying,'' he said.

Some people also have doubts and have some odd beliefs when it comes to booster doses as well, but Kaic has a message for them: "If they don't believe what the profession says, let them read some scientific articles."

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ZAGREB, 30 Jan 2022 - In the past 24 hours, 6,220 new coronavirus infections were detected out of 13,062 PCR tests, while 46 related deaths have been confirmed in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Sunday.

There are 2,008 hospitalized patients, including 185 on ventilators, while 38,731 persons are self-isolating.

To date, 56.53% of the population has been vaccinated. This includes 67.72% of all adults, of which 64.82% are fully vaccinated.

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January the 30th, 2022 - New Croatian coronavirus rules are set to come into force as of the 1st of February as things are altered to reflect what we know about the Omicron variant.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after the meeting of the National Civil Protection Directorate with the representatives of the Dr. Andrija Stampar Public Health Institute, statements were given by Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic and the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak on the new Croatian coronavirus rules.

“As of the 1st of February, we'll extend the decisions which are currently in force. The change that will happen as of that day concerns the regulation of border crossings. From February the 1st, covid certificates will be issued for those vaccinated with two doses for a period of 270 days, with nothing changing for those who need to take PCR tests - they are valid for 72 hours after testing. As far as rapid antigen tests are concerned, it will be possible to cross the Croatian border if it hasn't been more than 24 hours since the test was taken, and when it comes to recovery from the virus, covid certificates will be provided for a period of 180 days since recovery. As of February the 1st, Croatia, in cooperation with the Croatian Institute of Public Health, will issue EU digital covid certificates with these validity deadlines,'' explained Davor Bozinovic.

“There is also the national component of covid certification to think about, this refers to the need for the certificates to enter healthcare facilities, social welfare facilities, as well as state and public services. We aren't going to change anything there. Everyone who has previously been issued with certificates, when it comes to both recovering from the illness and vaccination against it, will be able to use until the date until which they were issued, which is a period of 365 days. We've asked for the recognition of rapid antigen test results for the EU digital covid-certificate, but this hasn't yet been decided at the EU level as we wanted it to be. However, an increasing number of countries are joining our initiative and we expect that decision to be made.

The second part of our meeting on new Croatian coronavirus rules was dedicated to the possibility of shortening the self-isolation period given the speed of spread of the new Omicron variant. The healthcare system, public activities, and other necessary functions are being burdened, but more about that will be explained to you by Krunoslav Capak,'' said Davor Bozinovic, adding that all decisions on new Croatian coronavirus rules will be officially announced on Monday.

Krunoslav Capak then said: ''Omicron causes a milder clinical picture, especially in vaccinated people, but it has also learned to bypass the system and it spreads more quickly than others variants. It's important to reduce isolation and quarantine periods, as its incubation period lasts slightly shorter than those of previous variants, the disease itself is shorter and the person is less contagious. That's why we're considering shortening the quarantine period. An ECDC document was released yesterday recommending that this possibility be considered.

This will be regulated by Croatian Institute of Public Health recommendations which will be adopted soon, but we're considering reducing the quarantine period for all those who are vaccinated down to seven days, as well as shortening the isolation period for patients with only mild or moderate clinical pictures down to five days, provided that they don't show any symptoms for 24 hours following their exit from self-isolation and as long as they return a negative result on a rapid antigen test. For other people, the rule remains the same as it was before.

"As for the booster vaccine, things still haven't yet been properly defined. We provide 365 day covid certificates to people after they receive their third dose because there's still no scientific evidence to suggest how long this booster remains effective. Entry into Croatia, but also into other EU member states using EU digital covid certificates will be possible only on the basis of these new rules, which will be made valid from the 1st of February. We aren't just changing the part for their use within Croatia. If you travel to or from Croatia, then these new rules apply to you,'' added Bozinovic.

Asked whether complete abolition of covid certificates is being considered at all, Bozinovic said: "Their main purpose of them is to slow down the spread of the disease. It is almost impossible to stop this variant from spreading, but with these Croatian covid rules, wearing masks, which we're now emphasising, we can slow it down, and that is the most important thing. The abolition of covid certificates in the EU is not something on the table,'' he said.

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ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - Opposition Bridge party leader Božo Petrov said on Saturday the government would do anything to avoid a referendum on the constitutionality of COVID certificates, noting that it was not clear to him why the government was afraid of "its people" and its opinion.

"400,000 people gave their signatures in impossible conditions and a clear message was sent to the government and the Constitutional Court that they should not play with the people's will and that they should let the referendum happen. If they intend to stall, it will backfire on them, because this time people will not forget it," Petrov told reporters in Pazin, where a branch of the Bridge party was established.

Commenting on President Zoran Milanović's statement of Friday that the incumbent government was the most corrupt government Croatia has ever had and that the prime minister is protecting his corrupt associates, Petrov said that it was a fact the government had not done anything to rid the state of corruption.

"It is a fact that they opted to keep the Attorney General who was recently found to have protected a corrupt government minister and who shelved her case without having either dismissed or opened it. It literally took a European prosecutor to show what has to be done," Petrov said, adding that "the state does not work in people's interest."

He noted that topics other than the relationship between the president and the prime minister were much more important at present.

"Inflation, a serious price growth, 20% of people are on the brink of poverty. Given the coronavirus crisis and inflation, the situation can only get worse and I would like the president and the prime minister to deal with that," Petrov said, pointing to lack of any progress in the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb and Sisak-Moslavina County.

After 62 opposition MPs collected signatures for a motion to have Construction Minister Darko Horvat replaced, Petrov said that it was only normal the ruling HDZ party, which holds the majority in the parliament, would reject the motion but that that did not mean that its decision was right.

"I would be ashamed if I had to defend the minister in the parliament, even if he were my brother, I would tell him not to embarrass himself and to step down," he said.

ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - In the last 24 hours, PCR tests have detected 9,904 new cases of the infection with coronavirus plus 5,512 cases detected by rapid antigene tests, Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Saturday.

The COVID-related death toll has increased by 41 to 13,731.

There are currently 66,152 active cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the country. Of them, 1,936 are hospitalized patients, including 183 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with the novel virus in late February 2020, so far, 929,502 cases of the infection have been detected, and of them, 849,619 people have recovered, including 10,462 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, 64.79% of adult Croatians have fully been vaccinated against this infectious disease.

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January the 29th, 2022 - Croatian public services are under a lot of pressure as Omicron puts many ZET (Zagreb electric tram) drivers into self-isolation. Could the situation become unsustainable?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Omicron is spreading like wildfire through Croatian public services, and due to the large number of employees on sick leave or in self-isolation, some basic functioning issues have been caused.

The most dramatic situation at the moment can be found in Zagreb's ZET, which is lacking as many as 390 bus and tram drivers. Every fifth ZET driver is off work.

"I'm familiar with the problems ZET is dealing with at the minute. The new strain of the novel coronavirus has created some major problems in public affairs. A large number of employees working for Croatian public services are in self-isolation. This is difficult to organise properly as we're learning that drivers are becoming infected literally overnight. Some corrections have been made as far as the lines are concerned, the schedule has been reduced, but all in all, I don't think that people are overly affected by this situation,'' said Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic.

Railway traffic is also in trouble, and HZ passenger traffic (putnicki prijevoz) is afraid that this is just the beginning. One line, on the Osijek-Bizovac route, has already been interrupted.

"On Thursday and Friday, passengers will be transported by buses on that line. There's a noticeable upward trend in the illness of our employees and our employees being put into self-isolation,'' they said from HZ. At the moment, 19 workers who are employed as train staff and 21 workers who are machine staff aren't at work, and another 12 of them are in self-isolation owing to coronavirus infection, Jutarnji list writes.

In Zagreb's Cistoca, on the other hand, a concerning number of 70 workers are currently on sick leave, and there are only 2050 of them all together. So far, they say, this doesn't seriously affect their functioning, but it might. Coronavirus is also being regularly encountered at the Student Centre here in the capital. There are currently 45 workers in self-isolation.

"Existing workers are being redeployed to Student Centre restaurants where the sick leave rate has increased, so we're bridging this situation," director Mirko Bosnjak explained.

The situation is a bit better for the Public Fire Brigade in the City of Zagreb, as there are currently only 3 coronavirus positive employees, and 3 more are in self-isolation.

"We have a total of 330 workers, and we've been lucky, if I may say so, that not too many of them became infected at once, it's been happening little by little,'' revealed Commander Sinisa Jembrih.

Other Croatian public services which don't immediately spring to mind like ZET drivers might are also facing issues. Customs officers are very much struggling with the spread of Omicron. At the moment, 106 of them are infected or in self-isolation, but the Customs Administration has assured Jutarnji list that the traffic of goods and passengers across border crossings, as well as at internal customs offices, is being dealt with regularly.

"Constant chaos"

Varazdin County has had no particular problems with people being off sick or needing to be in self-isolation while working for the Croatian public services there, but it does have a problems with school and education system employees. the students of three schools are still taking online classes due to the spread of Omicron among their teachers. This number is posing an issue every day and recently a further 31 teachers became infected, and 15 of them were placed in self-isolation.

Medjimurje residents have a bigger problem with their local healthcare workers, although so far there are have been no real problems with the organisation of their work. There are about 30 employees currently ''out of service'' due to coronavirus.

Over in Pula, due to the current situation with the spread of Omicron, most of the Croatian public services affected are the General Hospital and the Teaching Institute for Emergency Medicine. According to the director of the Pula General Hospital, Irena Hrstic, this month alone, 155 of their staff fell ill, out of a total of about 900 employees. Of course, these aren't all solely health professionals.

"We're in a state of chaos all the time, so that hasn't changed. But, we're working and covering ourselves as much as we can, so we do double, triple and all kinds of shifts,'' she pointed out.

In the Vukovar-based utility company Komunalac, which provides waste collection services in the city, there are 35 workers out of 223 sick or in self-isolation, which is almost 16 percent of the total number of their employees. However, according to the company's director Igor Strangarevic, they're still managing to do everything they need to do.

In the Osijek Public Utility Company, 10 out of 88 firefighters are off work, which is why, according to Commander Zoran Paksec, they've shifted their work into three shifts, so people rotate more often.

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ZAGREB, 28 Jan 2022 - Croatia's COVID-19 vaccination rate is lower than the EU average, and the vaccination campaign should have involved more health professionals and fewer footballers, a conference on the future of health care in Croatia was told in Zagreb on Friday.

Professor Stjepan Orešković from the Zagreb School of Medicine said that Croatia has nearly 3,500 COVID deaths per million, while in Finland this number is nearly ten times lower. He said that Croatia should look up to countries like that and their strategies.

"If you ask nurses why they don't want to get vaccinated, you will get some very rational answers, such as fear for a future pregnancy. At the start of the pandemic, we should have answered their questions and led the vaccination campaign through them rather than through, for example, footballers," Orešković said.

He said it was important not to take people who refuse to get vaccinated for fools because such an attitude would only diminish trust in the medical and pharmaceutical professions.

What nearly all European countries did at the start of the pandemic was close their borders, said Professor Iris Goldner Lang from the Zagreb School of Law, adding that several things should be considered when imposing restrictions.

"If we invoke health care, we should examine whether it can be achieved with less restrictive measures and ensure that such measures do not discriminate against anyone on the ground of nationality," she said.

Tomislav Sokol, a member of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament, supported the idea of joint purchases of expensive medicines. "Currently we have a situation where different member states pay different prices for the same medicines. However, we can certainly expect great opposition from the pharmaceutical industry."

Sokol said that Croatia should use all available EU funding to improve the equipment of its hospitals and create better working conditions for its doctors so that they would no longer emigrate to western countries.

Student Mateja Lisjak said that based on what she had learned from other panelists, the situation in most of the health care systems of EU member states was bad. She concurred with Professor Orešković that a solution should be sought in learning from the countries that have been more successful in containing the pandemic.

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ZAGREB, 28 Jan 2022 - Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, who heads the national COVID-19 response team, said on Friday that the team was considering shortening the period of self-isolation but that the current wave of the epidemic had still not reached its peak.

"Considering the still high numbers of new infections, we cannot say that the epidemic has reached its climax, especially when compared to other countries," Božinović told reporters at an event at which 28 vehicles for traffic police were handed over at the Police Academy.

Božinović said that one should be optimistic regarding the spring and hope that a new variant of the coronavirus would not emerge.

Commenting on the recommendation by the European Commission on shortening the validity of COVID certificates for citizens vaccinated with two doses, he said that the certificates could be issued under rules applicable to all 27 EU members.

"We must issue certificates as regulated by the EU, otherwise you are not able to cross the border. That also means shorter validity for two doses and recovery," he said, adding that a solution would be sought not to change anything for Croatian citizens.

A number of countries have shortened self-isolation to five days

Commenting on the possibility of shortening the period of quarantine, Božinović said that an important meeting would be held on Saturday between the national COVID-19 response team and representatives of the "Dr Andrija Štampar" public health institute.

"There is room for arranging things differently at the national level. Intensive talks are underway and confirmation is expected on Saturday," he said.

He added that one was considering shortening the period of self-isolation because research increasingly justifies it.

A number of countries have shortened the period of isolation to five days so as not to jeopardise their public services and the functioning of the state, he said, adding that his department did not have problems with labour shortages due to self-isolation and sick leave.

"We are not at risk but we have been thinking about it," he said.

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ZAGREB, 28 Jan 2022 - In the past 24 hours, 65 people have died as a consequence of the coronavirus infection and 15,629 new cases of infection have been identified in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Friday.

There are currently 66,751 active cases in the country, including 1,943 hospitalized COVID patients, of whom 187 are on ventilators.

A total of 43,268 people are self-isolating.

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 4,195,015 people have been tested, including 19,161 in the past 24 hours.

By 27 January 2022, a total of 5,080,835 doses of a vaccine were administered, with 56.49% of the total population or 67.23% of the adult population having been vaccinated.

A total of 2,292,446 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 2,202,555 have been fully vaccinated, which is 64.75% of the adult population.

The death toll now stands at 13,690.

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