ZAGREB, 7 January 2021 - Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Thursday rapid antigen tests had been ensured for camps in Petrinja, Glina, Sisak and Topusko with people evacuated after last week's earthquake and that voluntary vaccination was under way in that area to keep the coronavirus situation under control.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Bozinovic said that as of 2 January the most vulnerable population was being vaccinated in Sisak-Moslavina County, as were members of the civil protection, the police, firefighters, emergency medical staff, and the army deployed there.

The national COVID-19 response team appeals to citizens to comply with epidemiological measures to prevent the virus from spreading in the quake area, he said, adding that 230,000 rapid antigen tests would be given to hospitals and care homes.

Bozinovic said the ban on public gatherings of more than 25 people in Sisak-Moslavina County had been lifted, as had restrictions on private gatherings, but underlined the obligation to wear masks both indoors and outdoors.

He said additional protective equipment was expected to be delivered by sea in the next few days.

ZAGREB, 7 January 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday that 20,603 Croatians had been vaccinated against COVID to date, while the head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said he expected a considerable share of the population to be inoculated by the middle of this year.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Beros said that of the 20,603 vaccinated persons, 7,611 were doctors and other medical professionals (37%) and 11,569 (56%) were beneficiaries of old-age care homes.

Apart from the continuing decline in the number of new hospitalised cases and active cases, we are also happy to see data on vaccination, Beros said.

In terms of the number o vaccinated persons per 100 inhabitants, Croatia ranks fifth in the European Union, and 12th in the world in terms of the portion of the vaccinated persons in the whole population, the minister said, also presenting data on the rollout of vaccination in the quake-hit Sisak-Moslavina County.

Both Beros and Capak welcomed the approval of the Moderna vaccine.

Capak said he hoped the Oxford vaccination would be certified by the end of January.

Croatia has ordered a million doses of the Moderna vaccine, plus 2.7 million doses of the Oxford vaccine.

Capak explained that the vaccine developed by Moderna was easiest to store considering the logistical conditions. He said that side-effects so far reported during the vaccination in Croatia were mild.

Illustration by Little Shiva

ZAGREB, 7 January 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanovic was publicly vaccinated against coronavirus at the Pantovcak presidential office on Thursday, calling on all Croatian citizens to do the same as, he underscored, it is better than getting infected with COVID-19.

Milanovic called on all those who were in two minds to get vaccinated, noting that the vaccine certainly helps.

Anyone who consciously decides not to get vaccinated when the vaccine is available and free, takes on the responsibility for their own health, and when a certain number of people are vaccinated, there is less burden on the system, the president said.

He also said that it was not normal for a person who administers vaccination, that is, a doctor, not to get vaccinated themselves.

He stressed that coronavirus was a global challenge especially painful for those who got sick, died and for those who lost their loved ones.

"That is a serious matter, but for most people, it is not. That is why life needs to go on in a normal way as much as it is possible, it needs to be treated like something that can be avoided, monitored, something curable, from the viewpoint of social caution, hygiene, and if it happens, it happens," Milanovic said.

"Be careful, do everything you can, and do not worry that it will happen to you," he said.

Before getting vaccinated he consulted a doctor, he added, stressing that everyone should do that.

"Life goes on, ahead of us is a year when we will have to start over for the umpteenth time... It is encouraging for Croatia that our democracy is quite functional," Milanovic said.

In addition to President Milanovic, Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Admiral Robert Hranj also got vaccinated in front of the press at Pantovcak.

ZAGREB, 7 January 2021 - Ten ministers in the Andrej Plenkovic cabinet on Thursday got vaccinated against coronavirus in front of the press in a bid to raise awareness of the importance of immunising the whole population against this novel virus.

The jabs were administered to those ministers who have not yet caught the virus and have not yet acquired immunity against this infectious disease.

They also called on citizens to get vaccinated.

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, who attended the vaccination of the ministers, said that many public figures and distinguished people in Croatia would join a campaign promoting vaccination.

He is sure that more than 50% of Croatians are in favour of vaccination, and that a quarter of those polled are still in two minds about getting vaccinated. For those unsure about vaccination, it is important to send messages about vaccination, Capak said.

President Zoran Milanovic was publicly vaccinated against coronavirus at the Pantovcak presidential office today, calling on all Croatian citizens to do the same as, he underscored, that is better than getting infected with COVID-19.

January 7, 2021 - When can we expect the Moderna vaccine in Croatia? Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic weighs in on its arrival and first doses. 

The Croatian Government held a new session at the National and University Library on Thursday where Prime Minister Andrej Plenković addressed the recent Petrinja earthquake and Moderna vaccine plan in Croatia, reports Jutarnji List.

"On Tuesday, we visited the heavily destroyed areas, and these larger cities in the SMŽ area and gained immediate insight. After the earthquake last night, 5 according to the Richter scale, all services were on the ground - the Civil Protection, the army, the police, the HGSS, and assistance was provided to the citizens by the Red Cross and numerous volunteers. The electricity is being repaired, the telephone signal is being spread in the area, the minister is in coordination with the mayors, and urgent procurement of alternative accommodation is being done.

There is a larger number of containers and houses; we will order more containers. The aim is to provide them as soon as possible. I thank Medved for arranging this, all of you who are engaged, all the volunteers. It is important that help and support are well-coordinated and channeled to those who need it most. I thank the engineers who are richer in their experience in Zagreb, now also in SMŽ. Thanks to the Red Cross, Caritas for all of their help in the earthquake-damaged areas," he said.

The Prime Minister also commented on the coronavirus and Moderna vaccine in Croatia.

"As far as COVID-19 is concerned, the EMA has approved the vaccine from the manufacturer Moderna, and Croatia has ordered practically a million doses from this manufacturer. The first Moderna vaccine should arrive in the Republic of Croatia on January 11, with about 4,000 doses. By the end of March, about 90,000 doses could arrive in the Republic of Croatia. Also good and important for us is that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has been sent for approval. There are indications that this vaccine could also be approved during January. For us, this is important because we have ordered 2.7 million doses from them, and if approved, they could get significantly larger quantities of vaccines by the beginning of spring. We will talk about that when the process is over."

The Prime Minister also discussed the events in Washington.

"We condemn the scenes and acts of violence that took place. It was clearly an attack on American democracy concerning election results. It is good that this calmed down in a few hours; we believe that everything will follow the Constitution and the law. An attempt that is by no means a good episode in the history of American democracy. I thank the American ambassador for his cooperation, everything that has been done to improve relations between Croatia and the United States, and I express my regret for these developments," said Plenković.

Illustration by Little Shiva

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January the 7th, 2021 - The Croatian Government has a lot on its plate, but one pressing question comes from the owners of catering and hospitality establishments who have suffered enormous losses until now. Their one single question is: When can we start working again?

As Poslovni Dnevnik wrires, although the current epidemiological measures which were adopted at the end of last year will cease in a few days, when it comes to precisely what will happen next, no one knows.

''In any case, the Croatian Government must adopt quality economic measures as soon as possible, because the problems we've been talking about for months haven't just disappeared,'' writes the Association of Entrepreneurs.

''Recently, the Voice of the Entrepreneurs (Glas Poduzetnika) Association sent a letter to the Croatian Government and the National Civil Protection Headquarters, in which we asked them to inform business owners about further economic and epidemiological measures as soon as possible. Namely, it was announced that the measures will last until January the 8th, 2021, of which we're not far away from. Business owners and artisans who had to close their doors now don't know when they'll be able to continue doing business at all.

There is no information on whether such people will be able to continue working or whether the restrictive measures will be extended. We consider that to be inadmissible.

We believe that the Croatian Government and the National Civil Protection Headquarters should inform business owners and craftsmen about further steps as soon as possible. Uncertainty has been going on for more than nine months for many and the situation is getting worse. Moreover, we still don't have an answer to the question about compensation for activities that are prevented from operating due to the measures. Business owners are interested in whether the Croatian Government will compensate them for the huge losses incurred due to business restrictions? Furthermore, many activities that aren't formally closed, such as passenger transport and travel agencies, are failing. Unfortunately, more and more people end up at the Croatian Employment Service, and we currently have 160,000 unemployed people. We believe that this trend will continue if quality economic measures aren't adopted soon.

We're fully aware of the new crisis we're experiencing, and we've transferred our available resources to help Sisak-Moslavina County, but the problems caused by the coronavirus crisis that brought tens of thousands of companies to their knees haven't simply disappeared. As a reminder, job preservation grants aren't an aid measure for business owners. In addition, this measure won't save the business of companies nor will it enable the recovery of the economy.

Many UGP committees sent out letters proposing measures that would allow companies and crafts to survive, however, they never received any responses. Business owners are being left to fend for themselves again, without any information on when they'll be able to resume work. We appeal to the Croatian Government to make decisions on the measures as soon as possible and to inform those affected about this.

Business owners showed care and solidarity in the period following the earthquake in Petrinja, and by working out in the field and donating goods and money, they came to the aid of the victims, but soon they will have to start thinking about their own survival again,'' reads the letter from the aforementioned association.

"We hope that the Croatian Government has an agenda and that in the next few months it will make sure that business owners and entrepreneurship don't enter even more troubled waters, and that the proper conditions for survival in this situation are provided. Legal changes, write-offs of taxes and contributions for the affected areas and the abolition of VAT payments for donated goods are necessary. Instead, the Croatian Government is proposing new commitments and various unnecessary Regulations on monitoring and reporting on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and measures to help the economy. In that way, it's merely createing yet more new and unnecessary paperwork, while the number of failing companies and the number of unemployed people is growing unstoppably day by day,'' said Drazen Orescanin, the executive director of the association.

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January the 7th, 2021 - Despite the fact that Croatia's current coronavirus measures prohibit the entry of foreign nationals unless they hold lawful residence in Croatia or can prove that they have pressing personal, family or economic reasons to be here, there are still foreign guests in the country. Croatian hotels, however, recorded far more Croatian guests than they did foreigners over the New Year period.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, although the epidemiological profession urged Croatian hotels to refrain from any New Year programmes due to the increase in the number of people infected with coronavirus, there were still Croatian hotels that, primarily symbolically, rang in 2021.

According to data from eVisitor, a total of 5,249 guests stayed in Croatian hotels on New Year's Eve, ten times less than on the previous New Year's Eve, with a significantly different structure of guests than last year.

Namely, while at last year's celebrations there were three times more foreign guests than there were Croatian ones, this time, there were more than six times more Croatian guests than foreigners staying in Croatian hotels.

Nevertheless, domestic tourist traffic was two thirds lower in terms of overnight stays than it was on New Year's Eve previously, with 4,556 overnight stays recorded, while 693 foreign guests were accommodated in Croatian hotels across the country at the turn of the year.

However, only a handful of Croatian hotels were actually open for the New Year, which in normal years is mostly dominated by hotels in Zagreb, Kvarner and Istria. Only 193 hotel facilities out of about 1,200 recorded overnight stays on New Year's Eve, and they recorded an average of about 21 percent occupancy.

Despite the above, there were exceptions in terms of occupancy, and full occupancy, according to eVisitor, was recorded by one facility in Buje and one facility in Karlovac County, but the Croatian Tourist Board isn't revealing which hotels are in question. Otherwise, 7270 guests were recorded as having stayed in private accommodation facilities on New Year's Eve.

Although a number of Croatian hotels announced back during October that they intended to organise a New Year's Eve party with live music and dancing, their plans soon failed with the deteriorating epidemiological situation and the introduction of new anti-epidemic measures.

Although they didn't actually specifically include the closure of Croatian hotels and hotel restaurants, the maximum number of outdoor and indoor gatherings was cut, and in the meantime, passes between counties were introduced one again, although it was possible to travel with confirmation of having previously booked accommodation. Meanwhile, passes after the recent Petrinja earthquake were lifted, but there are question marks surrounding just how much that affected traffic in this regard.

After the appeal of epidemiologists, Croatian hotels certainly gave up on the idea of live music and similar ideas in the meantime, and the celebrations surrounding the ringing in of the New Year was reduced enormously.

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ZAGREB, 7 January 2021 - There have been 562 new cases of the coronavirus in Croatia over the past 24 hours, as well as 43 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

There are 2,284 COVID patients in hospitals, including 200 on ventilators.

The death toll has increased to 4,266.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 6,272, and there are 17,539 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,055,211 people have been tested, 3,614 of whom in the last 24 hours, and a share of the positive tests today was 15.5%.

Since the start of the epidemic in Croatia, a total 216,848 people have contracted the novel coronavirus and 206,310 have recovered, including 1,232 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, 6 January, 2021 - Ten ministers will be publicly vaccinated against coronavirus on Thursday, government spokesman Marko Milic tweeted on Wednesday, adding that those who recovered from the virus and acquired natural immunity would not be among them.

Those to be vaccinated before a cabinet meeting are: Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, Defence Minister Mario Banozic, Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek, Economy Minister Tomislav Coric, Construction Minister Darko Horvat, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic, and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told Croatian Radio earlier today that all ministers were willing to be vaccinated, including those who recovered from coronavirus. He said the latter six, including him, would consult doctors to see if it was opportune for them to be vaccinated too.

"We thought that we must give the vaccine to those who need it the most. If someone has immunity for some time, it's better to vaccinate someone who could have serious health problems tomorrow."

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January the 5th, 2021 - November 2020 will be remembered as one of the worst months for many in Croatia. For my own self included. Sadly, 2544 more Croatian deaths occurred than births as one of the worst months throughout the pandemic did some of its most horrendous damage across Croatia.

As Marina Klepo/Novac writes, those who view the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic with less concern often referred, among many other things, to official statistics that indicated that mortality in the country was not increasing significantly compared to the pre-crisis period. This was the case until the terrible month of November, when, according to the CBS, the number of Croatian deaths jumped sharply - to 5,486 people, 1,367 more than just one month earlier.

It cannot be said that such a large number of Croatian deaths in one month has never been recorded, but such numbers are usually seen at the beginning of a year, most often in January, during the height of the influenza season. The blackest of all was January 2017, when 6,441 Croatian deaths were recorded.

When it comes to November, the highest number of deaths in the past decade was recorded in early 2011, when it stood at 4,516, about a thousand less than in the same month in an entirely tragic 2020. When you look at the first eleven months of 2020, there were 49,286 Croatian deaths, which is 1,666 more than there were in the same period last year.

However, given that a major deterioration with the coronavirus crisis ensued in December, when 50 to 70 casualties were recorded daily across the country, the overall data for last year will be far more devastating. It is well known that Croatia is one of the countries that continuously records a decline in population, mainly due to emigration and low fertility rates.

Since the country's independence from the former Yugoslavia, there have been more births than deaths in only two years - immediately after the war, in 1996 and 1997, when the natural increase was just over 3,000. In all other years, more people died than were born, and by 2012 that number was still below 10,000. In 2017 it reached almost 17,000. Due to the large emigration which took place following Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013, the number of newborns fell sharply, and this trend has continued to this day.

Thus, 36,135 children were born in Croatia last year, 5,642 fewer than in 2012. Poor demographic results were slightly mitigated in 2018 and 2019, but now everything points to the fact that 2020 will be a record year when it comes to reducing the number of inhabitants, this time due to a large increase in the number of Croatian deaths. In the first 11 months of 2020 alone, the number of inhabitants decreased by 16,167, which is close to the worst so far, in 2017, when it decreased by 16,921.

According to the CBS, last year, Croatia had 4,065,253 inhabitants, 230,174 fewer than there were back in 2010. Sisak-Moslavina County, which has now been hit by a strong earthquake and a loss of human lives, lost almost a fifth of its population in that period - 28,455 people.

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