ZAGREB, 9 November, 2021 - An estimated 300 people rallied on Monday evening in Zagreb's St Mark's Square where the buildings housing the government and the parliament are located, to protest against the announced introduction of COVID certificate mandate as of 15 November.

According to media outlets, it was not known whether the rally had been reported in advance to the authorities, and the police forces came to the square soon after the gathering began, and then protesters dispersed.

Some of the protesters were carrying plastic lanterns, claiming that they had brought "a symbolic light against the darkness" which would be imposed on the country by the introduction of COVID certificates.

They said that they would come outside Government House every evening.

An association of conservative Catholic activists, called Vigilare, reported on the Facebook two days ago that they had the right "to bring light in the darkness."

The president of the Croatian Association for the Promotion of Patients' Rights, Jasna Karačić, told Hina on Monday morning that there was great resistance to vaccination and distrust of the profession in Croatia due to disinformation on COVID-19 that was spreading on social networks.

Disinformation is spreading on social networks much faster than scientific information is spreading. This is also present in other countries, but in Croatia it is pronounced the most in the entire EU, Karačić said.

ZAGREB, 9 November, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Monday once again appealed to citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying it is the best and most effective protection.

Speaking to the press after a meeting of his HDZ party's Presidency and National Council, he said Interior Minister Davor Božinović and Health Minister Vili Beroš informed them of the anti-epidemic measures being taken.

Plenković said vaccination was again picking up and that he hoped it would accelerate even more.

Speaking of a recent climate conference in Glasgow, he said that in the years ahead the government and the HDZ would promote as much as possible the reduction of fossil fuel use and turning to low-carbon energy sources.

Regarding a Supreme Court ruling under which the HDZ was convicted for corruption, Plenković said the party decided not to ask the Constitutional Court to say if the sentence was constitutional because they concluded that it was not necessary.

This story has been put ad acta both legally and in terms of obligation, he added.

November 08, 2021 - From today, fully vaccinated Croats will be able to travel to the United States again. They'll need to present their vaccination status and a pre-departure negative viral test from a sample taken within three days of travel to the United States before boarding.

As announced by the U.S. Embassy in Croatia, starting on November 8, foreign national air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the United States, with only limited exceptions. The Biden Administration announced a new international air travel policy that is stringent, consistent across the globe, and guided by public health.

The CDC has determined that for the purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include those FDA approved or authorized, as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO). See the CDC's website for more details. Fully vaccinated air travelers will continue to be required to show documentation of a pre-departure negative viral test from a sample taken within three days of travel to the United States before boarding. That includes all travelers – U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs), and foreign nationals.

As of today, fully vaccinated foreign nationals can again travel to the United States ??! Check out @TravelGov and visit https://t.co/fBuPjsOAMj for more information. And don’t forget to fill out your ESTA application before traveling ➡️https://t.co/sXmGHMpIMS pic.twitter.com/4oKWjL6RGO

— U.S. Embassy Zagreb (@USEmbZagreb) November 8, 2021

To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travelers – whether U.S. citizens, LPRs, or the small number of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to show documentation of a negative viral test from a sample taken within one day of travel to the United States.

In addition to submitting all the documentation mentioned above, fully vaccinated Croats will need to fill out an ESTA application before traveling, which can be found here. In addition to the recent inclusion of Croatia in the VISA program and the increases in flights between the two countries, traveling to the United States has fewer barriers than before.

For more information regarding traveling to the U.S., check the FAQs on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

ZAGREB, 8 Nov, 2021 - Interest in getting vaccinated increased in the City of Split over this weekend after a surge in COVID numbers forced the authorities to step up anti-epidemic measures.

The head of the Split-Dalmatia County office of public health, Željka Karin, told Hina on Monday, that over the weekend, as many as 1,800 people were given a shot against coronavirus.

In the first two hours since the start of inoculation on Monday morning, as many as 410 people got vaccinated in the Spaladium Arena hall, and two thirds of them got a first jab.

There are several locations in the county where residents can get a shot against coronavirus. Karin said that latest high COVID numbers were probably the reason why Split residents decided to get immunised.

Some of those freshly vaccinated said that they had decided to get a jab after they had been provided with enough information about vaccines and some said that they would like to have a normal life and that COVID certificates would make it possible.

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ZAGREB, 8 Nov, 2021 - As COVID hospitalisation numbers are increasing, Zagreb hospitals are expanding their COVID capacities while reducing services that are not essential.

The director of the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Zagreb, Davor Vagić, told Hina that the hospital is expanding its COVID ward by an extra 12 beds plus eight more intensive care units.

There are currently 60 COVID patients at the hospital and together with the emergency ward, there will be about 100 beds available for patients.

He added that non-essential treatment would be reduced by 25%.

Vagić said that about 550 employees at the hospital had received a third dose of vaccine and immunisation would continue at the the same pace.

The KBC Hospital in Zagreb will also increase its COVID capacities from 113 to 129 and currently there are 108 COVID patients at that university hospital, 17 of whom are on ventilators, the hospital's assistant director Milivoj Novak said.

The Dubrava hospital currently has 135 hospitalised COVID patients and 21 are in ICU and they are all on ventilators.

A Health Ministry task force has recommended that all hospitals expand their COVID capacities.

The Zagreb-based Sveti Duh hospital is currently caring for about 30 COVID patients.

The hospital's head, Mladen Bušić, told Hina that elective surgeries had been reduced to some extent due to acute treatment of COVID-19.

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ZAGREB, 8 Nov, 2021 - Croatia has logged 1,242 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours and 46 people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Monday.

There are currently 1,888 hospitalised patients, 246 of whom are on ventilators.

There are currently 29,265 active cases in the country and 24,255 people are self-isolating.

To date, a total of 3,184,660 tests have been conducted, including 3,703 in the past 24 hours.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 502,569 people have become infected with the novel coronavirus and 9,546 people have died as a consequence while 463,758 people have recovered, including 3,931 in the past 24 hours.

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ZAGREB, 8 Nov, 2021 - The president of the Croatian Association for the Promotion of Patients' Rights, Jasna Karačić, said there was great resistance to vaccination and distrust of the profession in Croatia due to disinformation on COVID-19 that was spreading on social networks.

Disinformation is spreading on social networks much faster than scientific information is spreading. This is also present in other countries, but in Croatia it is pronounced the most in the entire EU, Karačić told Hina.

She said one should listen to experts, but the problem is also in the way the national COVID-19 crisis management team is communicating, since they do not send accurate messages to the public.

"First they made a mistake when they called on people to get vaccinated, and people thought the vaccine protected 100% so they could stop behaving responsibly," Karačić said.

The government obviously has no control over anti-vaxxers, nor its citizens, who were in a dilemma about vaccination, and gave up, for example, because they did not receive the necessary information even after they had submitted a request over the official website Cijepise.hr, she said.

There will be increase in chronic and oncological diseases again

The problems of other patients have escalated during the pandemic, they have limited access to health care because many hospitals are denying them regular health care due to COVID patients. In a situation like that, many patients had to go to private doctors, so the private health sector profited from the crisis, Karačić said.

"Other European countries ensured doctor consultations for their chronic patients, and they didn't only devote themselves to COVID patients. That is why last year's problems will happen again now -- there will be an increase in chronic and oncological diseases, so the number of deaths from other diseases, which could have been prevented, will double," Karačić said.

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November the 8th, 2021 - The Croatian Public Health Institute has published the latest detailed guidelines for schools as infection numbers soar and attempts are made with various new measures and ramped up vaccination to slow the spread and the pressure on the healthcare system.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ/CNIPH) and the Ministry of Science and Education have published detailed and updated instructions on the use of masks in primary and secondary schools for students, school and kindergarten staff and other adults during their stay there, to try to prevent and control the currently rapid spread of the novel coronavirus.

The updated instructions state in which situations protective masks are mandatory: for students from fifth grade of primary school onwards throughout their stay in school and during their stay in the classroom, even in the case of an institution where there is a gap (social distancing) ensured in classrooms between all persons (students, teachers, etc.) larger than 1.5 metres.

In addition to the above, masks are mandatory for high school students during their entire stay on school premises and during their time in the classroom, even when it comes to an institution where the distance in classrooms between all persons (students, teachers, etc.) is greater than two metres.

Masks are also mandatory for teachers and all other staff working in schools and kindergartens, as well as parents and other adults during any time spent in the school building and in kindergartens, as well as during any time spent in the classroom or with an educational group.

Exceptionally, vaccinated primary school teachers, as well as primary school teachers who have recovered from coronavirus in the past 12 months, don't need to wear a mask when in their own classroom or with their own educational group if they don't wish to.

For students from the first to the fourth grade of primary school (including the fourth grade) when passing through common areas or when in all situations of a shorter duration when students of one grade mix with students of another grade, they don't need to wear a mask if they don't wish to.

Classroom seating arrangements also need to be arranged to achieve the widest possible distance between students.

Early years and preschool children, as well as students with disabilities who are undertaking special programmes, don't need to wear protective masks.

Only a student and an employee whose individual state of health makes this impossible can be exempted from the obligation to wear a mask when at school, and the above is determined by the competent school doctor for the student or the family doctor (GP) for the employee.

Masks don't need to be worn during physical education (PE) and other similar health classes, nor do they need to be worn during other forms of physical activity and during meals, according to updated instructions published on November the 5th on the Croatian Public Health Institute's website.

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, 7 Nov 2021 - The Homeland Movement (DP) party on Sunday condemned the plan to require COVID certificates and testing for entry into the Croatian Parliament building, saying that under the Constitution power derives from the people and not from the national coronavirus response team.

"The Homeland Movement considers the announced violent introduction of so-called COVID certificates and testing in the Croatian Parliament by a para-state body called the national response team as the nullification of the will of the people expressed in elections and the most dangerous encroachment yet upon basic human and political freedoms, civil rights and the most important values of Croatian parliamentary democracy," the party said in a statement.

The DP said that decisions by the national coronavirus response team can by no means be above Croatian laws, in particular the Constitution, condemning any form of segregation of citizens on any grounds, including on the grounds of whether someone has been vaccinated or not.

"Despite the media hype and censorship, it is an undeniable fact that the virus is spread both by people who have been vaccinated and by those who have not, so this cannot be used as an argument by the response team to nullify the will of the people," the statement said.

The party said that relevant studies questioned the efficiency of the vaccines and that this was also confirmed by case numbers. "We are not saying that the vaccine helps or does not help, but why are those who are imposing it by force not willing to accept responsibility in the event of possible side-effects?"

The Homeland Movement expects the president of the republic, church dignitaries, and all members of Parliament, regardless of their ideological views, to oppose this "violent act that is being prepared."

"Those who fail this test must be aware that by doing so they take their part of historic responsibility for nullifying the fundamental values on which the modern and democratic Croatia is based," the party said.

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ZAGREB, 7 Nov 2021 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić has been found to be positive for COVID-19 after undergoing a test at the weekend, the government announced in a press release on Sunday.

Marić underwent a test after a member of his family had developed symptoms of the infection. His test returned positive, after which epidemiologists have ordered him to stay in isolation for ten days.

The minister "is feeling well and for now, he has no symptoms of the COVID-19 disease. He will stay in isolation and perform his duties from home while following orders from his doctor and epidemiologists," the press release said.

Marić, as well as other cabinet ministers, were vaccinated against COVID-19 early this year, and would soon receive a booster dose, following recommendations by the Croatian Public Health Institute, government spokesman Marko Milić said, adding that several cabinet ministers had already received the third dose of vaccine.

Milić appealed to all citizens to get vaccinated if they had not done so yet because the vaccine protects against serious forms of the disease. He also appealed to people who had received their second shot six months ago or longer, especially the elderly or those immunocompromised, to get a booster dose as soon as possible.

He recalled that Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević and Labour Minister Josip Aladrović, who had become infected even though they had been vaccinated, had overcome the infection with very mild symptoms.

Also, the opposition Bridge party leader, Božo Petrov, said in an interview with Nova TV on Saturday evening that he was positive for COVID-19. "Two or three days ago I found out I was infected. I had symptoms, I called my doctor and did a PCR test, which showed I was positive," he said.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

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