ZAGREB, 21 April, 2021 - The U.S. State Department has added about 100 countries this week to its "Level Four: Do Not Travel" advisory list, putting Croatia, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Mexico, Germany and others on the list, citing a "very high level of COVID-19," Reuters reported.

On Monday, the State Department said it would boost the number of countries receiving its highest advisory rating to about 80% of countries worldwide.

Before Tuesday, the State Department listed 34 out of about 200 countries as "Do Not Travel." The State Department now lists about 131 countries at Level Four, says Reuters.

The State Department said Monday the move "reflects an adjustment in the State Department's Travel Advisory system to rely more on (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's) existing epidemiological assessments."

Other countries in the "Do Not Travel" list include Finland, Egypt, Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Some countries like China and Japan remain at "Level 3: Reconsider Travel."

Most Americans already had been prevented from traveling to much of Europe because of COVID-19 restrictions. Washington has barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in most of Europe, China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa, Reuters says.

On Tuesday, the United States extended by another 30 days restrictions barring non-essential travel at its Canadian and Mexican borders.

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ZAGREB, 21 April, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 3,117 coronavirus cases and 49 COVID-19 deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases is 15,380 and includes 2,201 hospitalised patients, 230 of whom are on ventilators, while 31,562 people are self-isolating.

To date 1.7 million people have been tested for the virus, including 10,523 in the past 24 hours.

Through 20 April 708,960 vaccine doses were administered, with 419,252 people receiving the first dose and 143,796 both. For 2,116 people there is no information on whether they received one or both shots.

To date Croatia has registered 313,523 coronavius cases and 6,692 deaths, while 291,351 patients have recovered, including 1,687 in the past 24 hours.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April the 21st, 2021 - Another Zagreb vaccination point could end up being set up in a central location to try to take at least some of the current pressure off the vaccination point located at the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebacki Velesajam).

The Croatian vaccination rollout hasn't been going entirely to plan over recent months, with delivery and contractual issues aplenty and some people refusing to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine following numerous reports of worrying side effects and doubts surrounding the vaccine for people over a certain age. Things have begun to improve of late, and a second Zagreb vaccination point might work to ease the pressure and better control the flow of people coming to be immunised.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, following problems with getting the desired amount of invited individuals to come to receive their coronavirus vaccine, yesterday, more than 4,500 residents of the Croatian capital received a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, but covid wardens still have their hands full today, warning people to keep their distance and adhere to the epidemiological measures as they wait to receive their vaccines.

Zvonimir Sostar, the director of the Dr. Andrija Stampar Institute in Zagreb will today, as he previously announced on HRT, talk with the Minister of Health Vili Beros about the opening of another mass Zagreb vaccination point in the eastern part of the city.

If all goes to plan, next week, almost 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are set to arrive in Croatia, then 175,000 are due to enter the country every week during the month of May, with 201,240 doses due in the last week.

A total of 809,640 doses or 202,410 per week will arrive in June alone. For these large quantities, which do not include the promised amount of 524,000 doses of AstraZeneca and the announced 100,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson, additional mass vaccination points should be organised.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including border, travel and quarantine rules, as well testing centre locations up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 20 April, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 9,831 coronavirus tests have been performed in Croatia and of them 21.4%, that is 2,106, have turned out to be positive, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team stated on Tuesday.

The COVID-related death toll has increased by 42 to 6,643.

Croatia has currently 13,999 active cases, including 2,198 patients who are receiving hospital treatment and of them 213 are placed on ventilators.

As many as 30,534 people are self-isolating.

Since the outbreak of the infection on 25 February last year, 1,713,174 people have been tested for the virus. So far Croatia has registered 310,306 coronavirus cases, and 289,664 recovered patients, including 1,877 in the past 24 hours.

Since the beginning of this year, 698,032 COVID vaccine doses have been administered under Croatia's vaccine rollout plan. The press release reads that until 19 April, 556,969 people have been given shots against this disease. As many as 413,812 people have received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine, and 141,063 have been inoculated with both doses.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page

April the 20th, 2021 - The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to hold the entire world in its iron grip despite the advent of numerous vaccines which have a high degree of effectiveness against the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, one Croatian county is currently listed among the ten worst regions according to the World Health Organisation's European epidemiological map.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County currently has the worst epidemiological picture in Europe according to the World Health Organisation and their European epidemiological map. Yesterday, there were only eight newly infected people registered in that particular county, which is currently under a local lockdown due to their alarming figures, however, it remains on the list of regions with the worst situation related to the spread of the virus, according to a report from RTL.

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is the worst in two categories - according to the seven-day incidence (the number of newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants) and according to the absolute number of newly infected people over the past seven days. What will happen in terms of the strict anti-epidemic measures in that county is not yet known, and as previously mentioned, a local lockdown is currently in force there.

This Croatian county therefore unfortunately leads with a seven-day incidence of 689 per 100,000 inhabitants, but some other Croatian counties are also performing poorly, in fifth place is Varazdin with an incidence of 530, while the sixth is Sibenik-Knin County in Dalmatia with an incidence of 527.

The seventh place is occupied by the continental Croatian Medjimurje County, whose seven-day incidence currently stands at 521. According to the two-week incidence, no other Croatian county has been listed among the ten worst regions in Europe. Sibenik-Knin County is currently in 11th place with an incidence of 1017.

For more on coronavirus specific to Croatia, including updates on travel, quarantine and border rules, as well as the locations of various testing sites up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 19 April, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 410 new coronavirus cases and 39 COVID-19 deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Monday.

The number of active cases stands at 13,812 and includes 2,179 hospitalised patients, of whom 199 are on ventilators, while 30,644 people are self-isolating.

To date 1,703,343 people have been tested for the virus, including 2,728 in the past 24 hours.

So far Croatia has registered 308,200 coronavirus cases, 6,601 COVID-19 deaths and 287,787 recovered patients, including 2,227 in the past 24 hours.

For all you need to know about coronavirus in Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

April 19, 2021 - Croatia is already beginning its third phase of vaccination, but the vaccination figures in Croatia regarding the over 65 age group are hardly satisfactory. 

Jutarnji List reports that in the second phase of vaccination, which ended in most parts of the country, only 38.6 percent of people over the age of 65 were vaccinated. However, according to data provided by the Croatian Institute of Public Health, the vaccine was offered to everyone.

According to estimates, 853,784 people over the age of 65 live in Croatia, and at least one dose of the vaccine was received by 329,367, or 38.6 percent, according to the CNIPH. Only 6.6 percent of those over 65 received both doses of the vaccine, but they are expected to receive a second dose. These are data until April 12.

Thus, a few days before the end of the second phase of vaccination, as many as 61.4 percent of people over 65 did not receive the vaccine.

While CNIPH did not explain why, experts are convinced that most of the problem lies in the fact that vaccination candidates have massively refused to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, which Croatia had the most of. 

In short, at the time we start the third phase of vaccination, which includes the general population and priority vaccinations of employees in certain sectors, such as tourism and education, Croatia's seniors are not vaccinated satisfactorily.

A bad image of this vaccine has been created in the public, which is why all HZJZ vaccination lines are overwhelmed by calls for rejections for AstraZeneca.

"People are ready to be vaccinated, but when they are told that they will get AstraZeneca, they give up; that is, they say that they will wait for another vaccine. Initially, after the approval of AstraZeneca, it was rejected only by the elderly because then it was questionable whether it affects people over 65. After the story with clots appeared, the vaccine is also rejected by the younger ones," said HZJZ unofficially. 

The Ministry of Health also confirmed a few days ago that the problem is with people refusing the AstraZenecina vaccine.

"Irrespective of when the application is registered on the cijepise.zdravlje.hr platform, senior citizens and patients with chronic diseases have priority, and invitations to young people and those without chronic diseases are sent only in case those from the priority groups refuse to fill the capacity of the mass vaccination point at the Zagreb Fair. This is the sole reason for getting an appointment at a mass vaccination point with individual citizens from the younger group concerning the priority group. Such a principle will be followed in the next calls for vaccinations at the checkpoint," said the relevant Ministry.

In the priority phase, which ended a long time ago, 52,449 health workers were vaccinated, or 71.4 percent of them, which means that almost every third health worker was not vaccinated.

"The highest vaccination coverage was achieved for people aged 80 and over, of whom more than 44 percent received the first or second dose," said the CNIPH.

The data show that confidence in the vaccine declines with age. Thus, the highest share of vaccinated is among those over 100 years of age: out of 142 of them living in Croatia, 84 or 59 percent were vaccinated. Half of our citizens aged 95 to 99, of whom there are 1,630, were vaccinated, while 48 percent of those aged 90 to 94 were vaccinated. The least vaccinated in the priority group are those aged 65 to 69, where only 73,979 or 28 percent of the total of 267,320 have been vaccinated so far. Confidence in the vaccine grows with age so that the next monitored age group of 70 to 74 has a vaccine share of 43 percent.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković pointed out that the goal is to vaccinate 55 percent of the total adult population by July 1. Is this possible with such a response?

"Our goal is to vaccinate more than 50 or 55 percent of the adult population with the first dose by at least July 1, and with those that have recovered, we could talk about very significant protection of the population from COVID-19," said the Prime Minister.

But to reach that percentage, they would have to vaccinate 17,747 citizens a day. It is logistically feasible, given that Zagreb alone can vaccinate ten thousand people a day, but the question is whether there will be enough interested people. Only about 150,000 citizens are registered on the cijepise.zdravlje.hr platform, and the numbers are as follows: According to the latest CBS estimate, Croatia has slightly less than 3.4 million adult citizens (3,364,426), and 55 percent of that number is 1,850,434.

When the already vaccinated are taken away, it follows that 1,331,059 citizens should be immunized by July 1. Despite all the problems, it is positive that many additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been procured, which citizens are more inclined to get. According to the latest data, 1.8 million doses of the vaccine should arrive in Croatia by the end of June.

"Pfizer has increased the availability of vaccines for Croatia. From the fourth week of April, these doses will be significantly higher, or about 100 thousand doses; in May, Croatia will receive 175 thousand doses, and in June, 200 thousand doses per week. We will receive a total of 1.805 million doses by the end of June," said the director of the CNIPH, Krunoslav Capak.

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April 18, 2021 - Croatia coronavirus update: out of 7,535 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia in the last 24 hours, 21%, 1,565, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Sunday.

The COVID-related death toll has risen by 39 to 6,562.

Currently, there are 15,668 active cases of the infection, including 2,105 patients in hospitals, of whom 194 are placed on ventilators. A total of 32,040 people are self-isolating.

Since the first case of the infection with the novel virus was confirmed on 25 February 2020, Croatia has performed more than 1.7 million tests, and 307,790 people have tested positive. Of them, 285,560 have recovered from this disease, including 2,142 in the last 24 hours.

To date, under Croatia's vaccine rollout plan, more than 691,000 doses have been administered, and 552,559 people have been inoculated.

As many as 411,760  people have received the first shot of the two-dose vaccine, 138,706 have been inoculated with both doses. For 2,093 people, there is no data on which dose they have received.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 17 April 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 2,627 new coronavirus cases and 37 related fatalities, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday.

A total of 2,014 patients are hospitalised, of whom 182 are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of coronavirus was detected in Croatia, a total of 306,225 people have been infected and 6,523 have died.

A total of 283,418 people have recovered, of whom 2,359 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 32,994 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 1,693,080 people have been tested for the virus, including 9,429 in the past 24 hours.

As of 16 April a total of 671,839 doses of vaccines have been administered, inoculating 539,487 people. Of that number, 405,097 people have received the first dose and 132,352 have received both doses. For 2,038 people there is no data on which dose they have received.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 16 April, 2021 - Croatia can expect the delivery of 1.8 million Pfizer doses against coronavirus and the inoculation of 55% of the population against this infectious disease until 1 July, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Friday.

Representatives of the team said at a news conference that Croatia has registered a 32% weekly rise in new cases, and that the share of positive tests was 29.2% on Friday.

In terms of the incidence rate, Croatia  currently ranks 21st in the European Union and in the terms of the death rate, it ranks 17th, Croatia's chief epidemiologist Krunoslav Capak told the news conference.

"Pfizer has ramped up its delivery of vaccines for us. We Will have received a total of 1.805 million doses of this vaccine by the end of June," Capak said adding that he expected more than half of the population to get COVID shots before 1 July.

The head of the Zagreb-based Fran Mihaljević hospital for infectious diseases, Alemka Markotić called for additional caution before people get vaccinated.

"It would be a pity to develop serious symptoms of this disease now when we can be vaccinated soon," she said.

She said that the British variant of the novel virus was currently dominant in the European Union.

Markotić said that her hospital has been full with patients for days and that she was particularly concerned with the difficult condition of patients aged between 25 and 40.

Health Minister Vili Beroš reassured the general public that there would be enough vaccines for everyone who wishes to be immunised against this infectious disease.

Beroš dismissed accusations from some media outlets and Opposition lawmakers that the Cuspis company, which is allegedly owned by a family friend, had been favoured by the Health Ministry in the task to design the Cijepise (Get Vaccinated) platform.

Beroš said that all data concerning this issue were available on the ministry's website.

Beroš went on to say that the company had been hired by the ministry for some other tasks before he became an assistant minster and before his ministerial term.

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