ZAGREB, 10 May 2022 - Most MPs Nikola Grmoja and Zvonimir Troskot on Tuesday urged the Constitutional Court to state its opinion on the party's initiatives for a referendum to abolish mandatory COVID passes and transfer the powers of the national COVID response team to parliament.

Speaking at a press conference, they called on Constitutional Court President Miroslav Šeparović to say whether he was under pressure from the ruling coalition and why the Constitutional Court had failed to state its opinion on the two referendum initiatives within the statutory deadline of one month.

Grmoja demanded the urgent calling of the referendum, saying that the stalling of the referendum only showed that the referendum questions were "constitutionally incontestable".

Grmoja: Life is worth living

Asked to comment on the case of Mirela Čavajda, a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy because the fetus has been diagnosed with a large malignant tumor on the brain, Grmoja said that it was a very traumatic situation for the woman and her family, and that the party did not want to use this case for political purposes. He said that regardless of the law, there would always be ethical dilemmas of whether certain lives were worth living.

"My opinion is that life is always worth living. We are not the ones to decide that," Grmoja said.

He said that Most would present its position on the Social Democratic Party's abortion bill on Thursday, and that they would leave the rest to doctors.

Troskot: Croatia will never be Hungarian

Asked to comment on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's statement that Hungary would have a seaport had it not been deprived of the sea, Troskot said that Most had already warned that the present government with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and former Economy Minister Tomislav Ćorić had been working intensely on the "Hungarianisation" of the Croatian energy and finance system.

He said that Plenković was the enforcer of Russia's economic strategy in this region, wondering how it was possible that Croatia had not imposed economic sanctions on Russian-owned properties in Mali Lošinj on the northern Adriatic island of Lošinj or an embargo on Russian natural gas.

Troskot said that all this was happening because Plenković and Ćorić were satisfying the interests of "the kings of gas and electricity from lignite-powered thermal power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and the kings of renewable energy connected with Maja Pokrovac," the director of the Renewable Energy Sources of Croatia association.

Commenting further on Orban's statement, Troskot said in Hungarian that Croatia would never be part of Hungary. He said it was no coincidence that certain banks were opening their head offices in the coastal city of Zadar, or that Croatia had built several power-transmission lines and gas pipelines towards Hungary, thus becoming dependent on it.

ZAGREB, 10 May 2022 - The decline in new COVID-19 cases is continuing, with 440 registered in the last 24 hours, out of 4,138 tests, and three related deaths, the national coronavirus crisis management team said on Tuesday.

There are 4,107 active cases, including 374 hospitalised patients, of whom 15 are on ventilators, while 2,121 persons are self-isolating.

To date, Croatia has registered 1,128,239 coronavirus cases, 15,899 deaths, and 68.7% of the adult population has completed vaccination.

ZAGREB, 9 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 57 new coronavirus cases and eight COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday.

There are 381 hospitalised patients, 13 of whom are on ventilators and 2,247 people are self-isolating.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, a total of 1,127,799 COVID cases have been registered and 15,896 persons have died as a consequence.

To date, a total of 4,815,061 tests have been conducted, including 1,148 in the past 24 hours.

As of 8 May, a total of 5,246,635 doses of a vaccine have been administered and 59.50% of the total population has been inoculated or 70.77% of the adult population, including 68.70% of the adult population fully.

ZAGREB, 7 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 835 new coronavirus cases and seven COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Saturday.

The number of active cases in the country now stands at 5,430, of whom 377 infected persons are being treated in hospital, including 16 placed on ventilators, while 3,039 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,127,336 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 15,881 have died and 1,106,025 have recovered, including 765 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 4,810,816 people have tested for COVID-19 to date, including 3,265 in the last 24 hours.

By Fridayday, 5,246,531 vaccine doses had been administered, with 59.50 per cent of the total population, or 70.77 per cent of adults, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,313,633 people had received at least one dose and 2,242,438 of them had been fully vaccinated, which is 68.70 per cent of the adult population.

ZAGREB, 6 May (2022) - Croatia has recorded 778 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Friday.

The number of active cases in the country now stands at 5,367, and 385 patients are being treated in hospital, including 16 placed on ventilators, while 2,959 people are self-isolating.

To date, 4,807,551 people have tested for the SARS CoV-2 virus, including 3,455 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 5,246,003 million COVID vaccine doses have been administered, and 59.50% of the total population, or 70.76% of the adult population, have been inoculated.

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.

2 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 47 new coronavirus cases and eight COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Saturday.

The number of active cases in the country now stands at 4,676, of whom 441 infected persons are being treated in hospital, including 17 placed on ventilators, while 2,583 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,123,029 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 15,843 have died and 1,102,510 have recovered, including 811 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 4,790,822 people have tested for COVID-19 to date, including 851 in the last 24 hours.

By Sunday, 5,243,832 vaccine doses had been administered, with 59.49 per cent of the total population, or 70.76 per cent of adults, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,313,259 people had received at least one dose and 2,241,920 of them had been fully vaccinated, which is 68.69 per cent of the adult population.

ZAGREB, 28 April 2022 - Croatia has registered 850 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Thursday.

Currently, 425 infected persons are being treated in hospitals, including 20 placed on ventilators, while 3,512 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,120,766 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 15,817 have died.

A total of 4,780,298 people have tested for COVID-19 to date, including 3,956 in the last 24 hours.

By Wednesday, 5,242,249 vaccine doses had been administered, with 59.48 per cent of the total population, or 70.75 per cent of adults, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,313,013 people had received at least one dose and 2,241,598 of them had been fully vaccinated, which is 68.68 per cent 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, 26 April 2022 - The results of a survey regarding parents' and pregnant women's  attitude toward vaccination against COVID-19 are discouraging and we may be faced with a new wave of the epidemic in the autumn, Goran Tešović of the Zagreb Infectious Diseases Hospital said on Tuesday.

Presenting the results of the survey on the occasion of European Immunisation Week, Tešović, who is a pediatrician and infectious disease doctor, said that about 20% of parents were willing to have their children immunised against COVID, 45% were hesitant while 35% said they would not vaccinate their children.

The survey was conducted at the end of 2021 and early 2022 in three large Croatian cities - Zagreb, Osijek and Split, and it covered 1,000 parents.

People who have been vaccinated believe their children should be inoculated too, said Tešović. About 30% of those who have been vaccinated support vaccination while only 3% of those who haven't been do.

A survey conducted among 430 pregnant women between May and October 2021 at two health institutions in Zagreb shows that more than 80% would not get vaccinated against COVID and that only 16% would get vaccinated.

"Those results are fairly discouraging and indicate that pregnant women are still in doubt regarding the efficiency and safety of COVID vaccines even though most of them are aware of the dangers of COVID during pregnancy," said Tešović. Even though the virus is perceived as having disappeared, we still have about 100 cases a day and there will most likely be another wave of the epidemic in the autumn, he warned.

An immunology expert, head of the department for viral immunology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Hannover, Luka Čičin-Šain, underscored that the technology to produce vaccines is constantly being developed, their efficiency is increasing and any side-effects are decreasing.

Since the discovery of vaccines, the expected lifespan has increased between 15 and 25 years. Vaccination is the greatest medical achievement of modern civilisation and can prevent more than 20 potentially life-threatening diseases, he underscored.

Prior to the introduction of vaccination, there were more than 10,000 cases of mumps a year in Croatia and after vaccination was introduced, those numbers dropped drastically. After a second dose was introduced, the number practically dropped to zero, said Čičin-Šain. COVID vaccines were developed in record time, they have also changed the dynamics of the pandemic and saved countless lives.

European Immunisation Week is marked across Europe every year in the final week of April. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of immunisation for the general health and wellbeing of the European and wider population.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - In the last 24 hours, 704 coronavirus cases, out of 4,596 tests, and 11 related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday.

There are 4,129 active cases, including 434 hospitalised patients, of whom 24 are on ventilators, while 2,895 persons are self-isolating.

To date, Croatia has registered 1,118,526 coronavirus cases and the death toll is 15,801.

A total of 2,241,286 people have been fully immunised, which is 68.67% of the adult population.

25 April 2022 - Croatia has recorded 87 new coronavirus cases and eight COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday.

The number of active cases in the country now stands at 3,920, of whom 465 infected persons are being treated in hospital, including 24 placed on ventilators, while 2,759 persons are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,117,822 people have been registered as having contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 15,790 have died and 1,098,112 have recovered, including 664 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 4,766,333 people have tested for COVID-19 to date, including 1,198 in the last 24 hours.

By Sunday, 5,240,310 vaccine doses had been administered, with 59.47 per cent of the total population, or 70.74 per cent of adults, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,312,701 people had received at least one dose and 2,241,131 of them had been fully vaccinated, which is 68.66 per cent of the adult population.