ZAGREB, 14 Dec 2021 - Sandra Benčić of the Green-Left Bloc (ZLB) on Tuesday said that they had collected 34 lawmakers' signatures to file an appeal to the Constitutional Court to test the constitutionality of COVID-certificates.

"As we announced before, we are sending the request to the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of the decision on COVID certificates, not because of its contents, or COVID certificates as such, but rather the way the decision was made," Benčić said in Parliament House.

She believes that all decisions that restrict human rights during the pandemic, which is deemed to be an emergency situation, have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority in the national parliament and in accordance with Article 17 of the Constitution.

"Had we acted in that way from the start, we would have succeeded in creating a better way to strengthen social cohesion concerning vaccination," said Bančić and added that the Constitutional Court is expected to be a guardian of the Constitution.

A constitutional request requires the signatures of one-fifth of lawmakers. ZLB has collected 34 signatures from the SDP, Social Democrats, IDS, Centre, and GLAS parties as well as the HSS and RF, said Benčić.

She announced that they are prepared to request a test of the constitutionality of the procedure to adopt amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases which regulates penalties of up to HRK 50,000 for breaches of COVID certificates which will be put to the vote in the Sabor on Wednesday.

"We want penalties related to COVID certificates to be decided by a two-thirds majority and if that won't pass easily we are prepared to request a test on its constitutionality because the bill will not have been accepted with the necessary majority," she said.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 14 Dec 2021 - Croatia has registered 3,071 new coronavirus cases and 56 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Tuesday.

Currently, there are 21,396 active cases in the country. Among them are 2,253 infected persons receiving hospital treatment, 315 of whom are on ventilators, and 18,937 people are self-isolating.

Compared with last Tuesday, the number of new cases decreased by 191 and the number of deaths fell by four cases.

To date, 657,726 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS CoV-2 virus, of whom 11,722 have died and 624,608 have recovered, including 3,200 in the last 24 hours.

As of Monday, 4,406,837 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, with 54.94 percent of the total population, or 65.51 percent of the adult population, having been vaccinated.  A total of 2,229,626 people have received at least one dose and 2,046,615 have been fully vaccinated, which is 60.33 percent of the adult population.

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 Dec 2021 - Fake news is an increasing problem and challenge for society and democracy and people are more likely to believe information read on Facebook than those in positions of authority such as institutions, science, and the media, a zoom conference organized by the Gong NGO heard on Monday.

Techniques used to disseminate misinformation are being advanced by the day and that is why it is necessary to improve the quality of the media, media literacy and to build democratic political culture founded on well-argumented criticism. However, it is also essential to regulate digital platforms and responsible authorities, heard the conference on the dissemination of fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic".

Trust in social media is growing, trust in health staff declining

Croatian citizens don't trust the government, nor judiciary, nor media and avoid listening to the news. More and more trust is placed in social media, while healthcare staff is less and less trusted, said Professor Marijana Grbeša-Zenzerović of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb.

As much as half of the Croatian population believes that the virus emerged in a government laboratory whereas in Denmark only 6% believe in that. Grbeša-Zenzerović also underscored that citizens trust EU institutions more than national ones.

6 in 10 Croats say they come across misinformation at least once a week

Milica Vučković, a lecturer from the faculty, said that 62% of Croatian citizens assess that they come across misinformation at least once a week. They often mention the "effect of a third person," people are aware of misinformation and consider that they will not be duped by fake news or manipulative claims.

We are seeing more sophisticated models of disseminating misinformation which is more difficult to reveal. The fact that some people think they are immune to fake news is a big problem, she said.

"Science doesn't always have all the answers, which is then exploited by those who share misinformation and conspiracy theories. In addition to compromised media space and poor communication by politicians, it is a fact that it isn't easy to communicate about science in a comprehensible way," warned Vučković.

The postulates of news reporting envisage that media outlets ought to report in a well-balanced, unbiased, and fair manner and that all sides should be presented. This is why media outlets often give the same space to the arguments for COVID vaccination and to those against vaccination, despite the fact that there is a consensus in the scientific community that inoculation helps in the fight against disease, said Mato Brautović from the University of Dubrovnik. 

"The more citizens are exposed to traditional media reporting in line with that postulate, the more they will trust it. A balanced report does not necessarily mean 50:50, or those arguments of 'anti-vaxxers' and 'vaxers' should be presented in the same amount," he said. 

Speaking about why people trust fake news, Professor Andrea Vranić from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb said that people had a limited capacity to process the information they receive.

"Based on one article, we will generalize and create an attitude while emotions will motivate us to act, as long as it primarily has to do with fear for oneself and one's loved ones," she said.

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

December the 14th, 2021 - The Croatian Institute of Public Health (CNIPH) has published an interactive map of the Croatian vaccination rate, which we wrote about not long ago. It has now been updated with the latest vaccination data from across the country.

As Russian tourists fly into the country on special flights solely to get vaccinated with a vaccine that is recognised by the European Union (EU) and most likely to get their hands on the much desired EU covid certificate, the situation with the domicile population hasn't really been all that impressive when it comes to vaccination. Mass vaccination points have been set up in many locations nationwide, but some are still lagging.

The new rules surrounding Croatian covid certificates, the arrival of the Omicron variant and Croatia's recently high infection and death rate appears, however, to have pushed more to get vaccinated.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Institute of Public Health has published an updated version of the interactive Croatian vaccination rate map for the country's cities, municipalities and counties. Municipalities with a lower percentage of vaccinated residents are marked in the dark red shades.

The lighter shades of orange and yellow are those that have a slightly higher vaccination rate, and now most of the country's municipalities are in this group.

The bold orange colour represents a vaccination rate of 30 to 39 percent and a slightly lighter shade of orange represents a Croatian vaccination rate of 40 to 49 percent.

The yellow colour marks out the locations in which 50 to 59 percent of the population is vaccinated.

You can see view the updated version of the interactive Croatian vaccination rate map by clicking here.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including testing centre and vaccination point locations, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

December the 14th, 2021 - Croatian residents are obliged to wear masks on public transport and when inside enclosed spaces. This has always been asked of the public long before the arrival of the vaccine and the advent of EU covid certificates. Despite it being only a small ask, 1500 Croatian residents have been fined for not doing so.

The Croatian epidemiological measures put in place to try to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which made its first appearance in Croatia back in the February of 2020, have always been extremely mild in comparison to other countries across Europe.

In comparison to the likes of the United Kingdom, which, until the arrival of the new Omicron variant, had dropped more or less all of its measures, and Austria, which is set to make vaccination against the novel coronavirus mandatory, the Republic of Croatia's residents have fared quite well.

As Croatian residents are now being asked to do much more than simply wear a mask when being close to others, including needing to present a valid EU covid certificate in order to enter social care and healthcare facilities, as well as public and state administration buildings, it isn't surprising that there have been fines issued to those who have an issue with the oldest requirement of the pandemic - mask wearing.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, ever since the introduction of the obligation to wear masks indoors and when using public transport in Croatia, a requirement which came in a little over a year ago, a fine of 500 kuna had to be paid by just under 1,500 Croatian residents. Twice as many people have had to be verbally warned for not wearing a mask.

Recommendations for those using public transport have been in force since last year. “It would be ideal for people to be able to keep distance of one or two metres between each other, for passengers to try to sit in a sort of zigzagging fashion. That there is one passenger in each row, that about 40 percent of the capacity is filled and that everyone wears their masks properly. I would recommend FPP2 masks because they are much better. Covid passports are not being checked, they aren't obligatory for people travelling on public transport, but it would be ideal for them to be used,'' believes Dijana Mayer, an epidemiologist working at the the Croatian Institute of Public Health, who said the above in conversation with RTL.

While anyone who has ever used a tram during rush hour in the City of Zagreb will know very well that the above request is all but totally impossible to achieve, it leaves the question of Croatia potentially following the example of several other countries as far as EU covid certificates are concerned and widening their use.

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 Dec 2021 - A total of 48,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived in Croatia on Monday for vaccination of children aged 5-11 and will be distributed to local public health institutions in the coming days.

"Children aged 5-11 will receive the vaccine in two doses, like adults, but the vaccine for children contains a third of the dose for adults," said the deputy director of the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ), Ivana Pavić Šimetin.

Vaccination is recommended especially for immunocompromised children.

Local public health institutes will organize vaccination through pediatric clinics and schools and general medical practitioners.

About 6,400 children aged 12-14 (5.18%) and about 55,000 young people aged 15-19 have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to date.

The HZJZ says that vaccinated children do not need a booster dose, except those immunocompromised who are given an additional dose already a month after the first two doses.

The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children aged 5-11.

Children infected with COVID-19 most often have mild clinical symptoms or have no symptoms at all. Serious cases that require hospitalization and intensive care are very rare.

No vaccine has been registered so far for children aged below 5, so children in that age group cannot be vaccinated.

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

ZAGREB, 13 Dec 2021 - People who think that the risk of COVID-19 is small are the most reluctant to get vaccinated, a study approved for publication in the Croatian Medical Journal shows.

The study, written by sociologists Dragan Bagić from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Adrijana Šuljok and Branko Ančić from the Institute for Social Research, is part of a project by the Croatian Science Foundation called "Resilience of Croatian society against the COVID-19 pandemic", the Jutarnji List daily wrote on Monday.

The purpose of the study was to establish who refuses to get vaccinated and why, and it was conducted on a sample of 765 respondents. It showed that over a third of the respondents hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The most frequent reason given is that the vaccine is not safe enough or effective. Some of the respondents said they prefer natural immunity, i.e. recovering from the disease over vaccination, while some of the hesitant respondents also expressed mistrust of vaccines in general.

The study showed that young respondents, women, people with lower educational qualifications, and those living in small towns are more inclined to hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated. Foreign studies have also shown similar findings.

"These are the groups that the vaccination campaign should focus on," Šuljok was quoted as saying. "It should be borne in mind that some of these people cannot be influenced and are less likely to change their opinion. Our study has also shown that respondents who expressed mistrust of science are more inclined to hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated," she added.

Šuljok said that the term "anti-vaxxers", used to denote the people who hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19, is not appropriate because some of them are mistrustful of vaccines in general.

"By labeling all people, including those who are primarily afraid of the COVID-19 vaccine because it is new and has been developed quickly, as anti-vaxxers we are actually pushing them towards the group of real anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists, which might have negative consequences through increased opposition to 'regular' vaccines," Šuljok said.

She said that the public health campaign has failed to get the message across to a section of the population about the danger of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and that this was partly due to conflicting messages from the government advisory council and the predominant public narrative that mostly elderly people and serious patients get seriously ill.

>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 Dec 2021 - Croatia has registered 453 new coronavirus cases and 47 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus crisis response team reported on Monday.

Currently, there are 21,581 active cases in the country. Among them are 2,300 infected people receiving hospital treatment, including 326 who are on ventilators, and 20,029 persons are self-isolating.

To date, 654,655 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS CoV-2 virus, of whom 11,666 have died and 621,408 have recovered, including 3,926 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,580,821 people have so far been tested for the new virus, including 2,528 in the last 24 hours.

As of Sunday, 4,386,603 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, with 54.89 percent of the total population, or 65.42 percent of the adult population, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,227,358 people have received at least one dose and 2,039,788 have been fully vaccinated, which is 60.13 percent of the adult population.

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 Dec 2021 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Sunday participated in a ceremony of the delivery of Bethlehem Light of Peace to the Cathedral of Zagreb, and on that occasion said that the times were not easy and that the pandemic's darkness affected the society, including a part of the political scene.

Let this Light enlighten many souls, Jandroković said.

The Bethlehem Light of Peace is a symbol of Christmas and in the Bible, it symbolizes the coming of Jesus, whose birth promised peace to all people of goodwill.

In his address to the press, the Sabor Speaker called for vaccination and for compliance with all anti-epidemic rules and for responsible and rational behavior.

"One should take care of the lives and health of other people."

Asked by the press whether the Constitutional Court will be asked to test the constitutionality of the questions of the Bridge party's ongoing referendum initiative against COVID certificates before the necessary signatures were collected or after that, Jandroković said: "We live in a democracy, everybody can do everything that is allowed by law. However, I appeal to common sense, conscience, and to the awareness that not every topic promoted in that way could be beneficial to people. Quite contrary."

We have many people who have got sick and many who have died of the disease, and it should not have happened. Inoculation, adhering to epidemiological measures and prudence are the way to reduce coronavirus numbers, he said, underscoring that it is crucial to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Asked by the press about the indictment against former minister Lovro Kuščević and reports on a preliminary investigation against former minister Tomislav Tolušić over alleged white-collar crimes, the parliament speaker said that it was inappropriate for politicians to comment on prosecutions, although it seemed that there was a widespread belief that politicians must take stand on each topic.

In a democracy there is the separation of powers, everybody is responsible for their job and prosecutorial authorities are expected to explain to the public things unclear from their remit, said Jandroković, adding that keeping making comments on investigations can amount to pressure on the judiciary.

 For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 12 Dec 2021 - In the last  24 hours, there have been 2,339 new cases of the infection with coronavirus, and another 45 COVID patients have died, raising the COVID-related death toll to 11,619, Croatia's authorities said on Sunday. 

There are currently 25,101 active cases, and of the 2,293 are hospitalized patients, including 330 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registration of the infection with the novel virus on 25 February 2020, 654,202 persons have caught the virus, and of the 617,482 have recovered from the disease, including 3,676 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

Croatia has to date conducted roughly 3.58 million tests, including 7,810 in the last 24 hours when the positivity rate was 30%.

Since the start of the implementation of the vaccine rollout plan, 54.87% of the total population has got vaccinated. As many as 60.07% of adults have fully 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.