ZAGREB, 14 Jan 2022 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has performed 17,926 coronavirus tests, and 48% of them, or 8,555 have returned positive, while the infection has taken 32 more lives, raising the COVID-related death toll to 13,038, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team reproted on Friday.

There are currently 55,789 active cases of the infection in the country, including 1,710 hospitalised patients of whom 205 are on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with the novel virus in Croatia in late February 2020, 802,745 cases of the disease have been reported so far, and 733,918 people have recovered from it, including 8,234 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

As many as 3.96 million tests for SARS-CoV-2 have been conducted to date.

So far, 56.11% of the total population have been vaccinated against COVID-19, or 66.81% of adult Croatians.

ZAGREB, 13 Jan 2022 - Health Minister Vili Beroš told the cabinet on Thursday that in the past 24 hours, 46.28% of those tested proved positive to the novel coronavirus and that areas with low levels of immunisation showed a higher number of hospitalised COVID patients. 

The number of hospitalised patients has increased along the entire coast and KBC Split is experiencing the biggest pressure. The Križine hospital has opened yet another COVID ward and 18 nurses from other institutions have been assigned to the hospital, said Beroš.

The situation in the Zadar General Hospital has also deteriorated. The highest number of COVID patients is present in Split, Zagreb and Rijeka.

To date, 4.9 million doses of COVID vaccine have been administered and 642,406 people have received an additional shot.

District nurse services have contacted 1,611 elderly citizens this week and 643, or 40% have agreed to get vaccinated.

Fourth and fifth waves have overlapped

Beroš said that testing in health institutions is being stepped up, adding that the only logical modus operandi was for the primary health care services to take on testing and a decision in that regard would be made today.

"The fourth and fifth waves have overlapped, as have the Delta and Omicron variants. It is expected that the highest pressure in the days to come will be where the inoculation rate is lower," he said.

Currently, there are 53,051 active cases of the novel coronavirus in Croatia, plus 22,000 citizens who are self-isolating.

Epidemiologists expect the Omicron variant will infect the majority of the population, but those who have been vaccinated will experience only mild symptoms while those who haven't are more likely to develop grave symptoms and possibly fatal outcomes, the health minister said.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 13 Jan 2022 - In the past seven days, there have been over 48,600 new cases of infection with coronavirus in Croatia, which is the highest weekly caseload since the outbreak of the pandemic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told his cabinet on Thursday.

This is twice as high as two weeks ago, he added.

The COVID-related death toll exceeds 13,000.

"This fact is important to highlight against the backdrop of the slowing daily rate of inoculation. From early March to the end of May 2021, 1.14 million persons were given a shot. Since then, less than a million have been given the first dose," the premier said.

Commenting on vaccine hesitancy, Plenković said that it was detrimental to unvaccinated people, particularly those who had caught the virus and died of the infection.

Better protection against the virus can be ensured provided there is a combination of higher vaccination rates, booster doses, and compliance with COVID protocols, he said, adding that the government had made sure that there were enough amounts of vaccines for all.

He reiterated the importance of immunization in light of the fast spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus.

Croatia has logged 9,157 new COVID cases and 23 related deaths in the past 24 hours, with the latest infections putting the number of active cases at 55,500, the national COVID-19 response team said earlier today.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 13 Jan 2022 - The Pensioners' Trade Union (SUH) said on Thursday that it was against making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for citizens above the age of 65.

The SUH union issued a press release on this topic today after Health Minister Vili Beroš said two days ago that the authorities were considering the possibility of introducing mandatory vaccination against coronavirus for senior citizens since the COVID mortality rate is higher in older age cohorts.

The average age of the deceased whose death is connected with the coronavirus infection is 76.2 in Croatia, and therefore the minister believes that mandatory inoculation should be introduced for older citizens.

However, the vaccination rate of Croatians aged above 60 is relatively high: 78.5%. On the other hand, only Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia Latvia and Estonia in the EU have lower vaccination rates in these age cohorts in comparison to Croatia, the union says.

SUH called on the authorities to refrain from any coercive measures for senior citizens.

The mandatory vaccination will be an act of discrimination based on age, the union says, adding that it holds that it is the right of every individual to choose inoculation and the type of vaccine, with full responsibility for one's own health and for the protection of the health of other citizens.

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

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 13 Jan 2022 - The rate at which the Omicron coronavirus variant is spreading is alarming and it has started to cause serious problems in the health system due to a growing number of doctors and other medical staff who cannot go to work due to infection or compulsory self-isolation.

According to data from the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ), 800 nurses and 353 doctors who work in medical institutions are positive or in self-isolation, reports Jutarnji List.

The KBC Split hospital operates without 36 of its doctors and as many as 82 nurses, the KBC Zagreb hospital has 29 doctors and 68 nurses who are either positive or in self-isolation, while the KBC Rijeka hospital operates without 17 of its doctors and 37 nurses.

In the KBC Zagreb hospital, 186 workers did not show up for work on Tuesday while on Wednesday 244 did not show up. In the city's KB Dubrava hospital, 65 medical staff were in isolation and self-isolation on Tuesday.

"We are still not in trouble, but if the number of employees who are in isolation and self-isolation continues to grow, that could become a problem. We are concerned. Most of our positive employees are vaccinated so they have very mild or no symptoms but regardless of that, they cannot show up at work," said KB Dubrava director Ivica Lukšić.

The head of Zagreb's Sisters of Charity Hospital, Davor Vagić, is of the same view, and notes that the number of employees who cannot come to work because of infection or self-isolation keeps growing, which, at some point, could become a problem.

KBC Zagreb hospital assistant director Milivoj Novak says the situation is still not alarming but an increase of as much as 76% in the number of positive employees in a single day does not look good.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 13 Jan 2022 - Croatia has logged 9,157 new COVID cases and 23 related deaths in the past 24 hours, with the latest infections putting the number of active cases at 55,500, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

Among those infected are 1,755 people who are hospitalized, including 216 on ventilators.

Currently, 22,292 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 794,190 people have been registered as having contracted the new virus, of whom 13,006 have died, while 725,684 people have recovered, including 6,685 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,941,654 people have been tested to date, including 19,786 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 4,901,094 vaccine doses have been administered, with 56.06% of the total population or 66.76% of adults having been vaccinated.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 12 January, 2022 - Croatia has logged 9,894 new COVID cases and 27 related deaths in the past 24 hours, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

This is the highest number of new infections in a single day, with the previous record having been registered on 6 January, when there were 9,058 new infections.

The number of active cases in the country currently stands at 53,051. Among them are 1,822 infected persons receiving hospital treatment, including 220 who are on ventilators, and 22,474 persons are self-isolating.

A total of 3,921,868 people have been tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to date, including 21,301 in the last 24 hours.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 785,033 people have been registered as having contracted the new virus, of whom 12,983 have died.

A total of 718,999 people have recovered, including 3,644 in the last 24 hours.

Fifty-six percent of the total population has been vaccinated against coronavirus or 66.69% of adults. 

To date, 2,272,722 people have been vaccinated with at least one dose and 2,171,126 have been fully vaccinated, which is 63.87% of the adult population.

ZAGREB, 11 January, 2022 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has conducted 18,404 cooronavirus tests, and 43% of them, that is 7,956, have returned positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Tuesday.

There have been 38 more COVID-related deaths, raising the COVID death toll to 12,956.

Currently, Croatia has 46,828 active cases, and of them, 1,824 are hospitalised COVID patients, including 233 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with coronavirus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, 775,139 people have contracted the virus, and of them 715,355 have recovered, including 2,703 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, 63.75% of adults have fully been vaccinated.

January the 11th, 2022 - The new Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has taken Europe by storm, sweeping through country after country with some richer Northern European nations such as the United Kingdom recording eye-watering infection rates despite having a very high vaccination rate. Croatian epidemiologist Branko Kolaric has spoken out about Omicron, stating that while this variant is the mildest of all so far, he doesn't believe that it will necessarily lead to herd immunity.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, epidemiologist Branko Kolaric of the Croatian Institute of Public Health has stated that he is far from surprised by the large number of newly infected people since Omicron began to spread.

"I can't say I'm surprised by the numbers. Many countries have a similar situation at the moment. We've had bigger and more gatherings over the last two weeks, school starts today. We have an overlap of the fourth and fifth waves. This level of spread can be slowed down, but we need adequate measures in order to ensure that,'' he told HTV.

Is omicron the mildest variant? Our hospitals are still filling up... Is the reason Croatia's poor level of vaccination?

''Yes, that's the most important reason and what causes the greatest level of concern. We have poor vaccination coverage. We also have a lot of people off on sick leave, and there will be infections spreading around in schools. There will be a lot of self-isolation to come. Omicron is the mildest variant, but when you have a lot more infected people, then the number of people in hospitals is higher. Today we have 250 people needing a respirator,'' epidemiologist Branko Kolaric explained.

Rules in schools as the kids return to the classrooms

''I was in favour of extending the school holidays for another week. In addition to the risks posed by being in school, there's also the issue of public transport. In Split there are a large number of people hospitalised, 85 percent of those people are unvaccinated, a large number are elderly… A large number of new patients infected with covid needing medical help are younger people.

The entire population is affected by the virus now. In Britain, for example, the number of hospitalised children was 40, 50, and now with Omicron there are over 100 daily hospitalisations.''

Is Omicron the beginning of the end of the pandemic? Will we reach herd immunity because of it?

''I don't think Omicron will provide herd immunity. Global vaccination is something that would reduce the likelihood of new variants even emerging,'' said epidemiologist Branko Kolaric.

Any new recommendations for this week?

Those who haven't yet been vaccinated, please, go and get vaccinated, wear your masks properly, avoid all unnecessary close contacts, whoever is able to do so, please try to work from home.

About the anti-epidemic measures...

''These are all milder measures, working from home is recommended. We don't have a significant change in the coping strategy with the pandemic on the cards. I expect a large number of infected people to be recorded over the coming days,'' epidemiologist Branko Kolaric said in conversation with HTV.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 10 Jan 2022 - The national COVID-19 crisis management team on Monday published tighter restrictions against COVID-19 on its website, and those tighter rules will be effective as of Tuesday.

The restrictions cap public gatherings at 50 in case of open-air events, and in the event that participants have COVID certificates the maximum number could be 200 if local response teams okay them.

Indoor private social gatherings are capped at 25. There can be a maximum of 50 persons at the site of private gatherings provided that all of them have COVID certificates.

Hospitality establishments can operate without any new restrictions, however, they can expect more frequent inspections and controls of the number of patrons. Checks will be stepped up to monitor compliance with the restriction on the number of guests, as well as with the requirements to maintain a physical distance of 1.5 meters, to use masks when not at the table, and to air and clean the establishment.

A limit on the number of spectators at sports events is imposed, so they will be allowed to fill up a maximum of 20% of an individual grandstand for an indoor event, that is 40% for an outdoor event.

It is mandatory to wear masks at religious and art events, film screenings and exhibitions, as well as sessions of representative bodies.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.