January the 8th, 2022 - Croatian PCR tests have become quite the hot commodity indeed as people wait for days not only for their results but to get their hands on one in the first place. This is not only due to a rise in the infection rate, but because the unvaccinated (the number of which remains high in Croatia) can get covid certificates based on a negative test result. For now, at least...

Vesna Visekruna Vucina from the Croatian Institute of Public Health was a recent guest on New Day, where the situation with Croatian PCR tests and the spread of Omicron was discussed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the increase in the number of infected people, Vucina says, was due to the recent Christmas and New Year festive gatherings, but also due to the nature of this variant of the novel virus itself.

When asked about the level of public interest in vaccination, she said: “This is mostly to do with booster doses. As we've already seen, when there's such a sharp increase in the number of patients, a certain number of people do decide to be vaccinated with their first dose, but people are afraid of large numbers. Vaccination is growing towards higher age groups, it is highest in the age group of 70 to 74 years. However, the elderly are still not vaccinated sufficiently enough,''

“Vaccination protects against more severe forms of the disease developing. Over 70 percent of those hospitalied with more severe clinical pictures are not vaccinated," she told N1.

On what to expect in the next two weeks, Vucina said that we have already seen in previous waves that there will now be many people who will become so unwell that they'll need to be hospitalised. “It is to be expected that this wave will continue, but it is difficult to say what we can expect,” she warned.

Regarding the epidemiological measures that are currently in force and the introduction of new ones, she said: “It would be desirable to adhere to the already existing measures, those that have been recommended since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. We'd like to urge people to get vaccinated because in combination with basic measures and vaccination, there is little risk of developing a more severe form of the disease,'' she added.

Croatian PCR tests and their waiting times...

There are a huge number of people coming to testing points at this moment in time, and the system is struggling to keep up with it.

“There will probably be an increase in capacity given the huge demand for testing. People who have a more severe form or pronounced symptoms have in some way an advantage over those who are asymptomatic. Most unvaccinated people who want to do a PCR test do so in order to get a covid certificate,'' she said.

“People can take a test at home if they have suspicions or have been in contact with someone infected. It’s hard to predict what will unfold when you see new strains of a virus emerge. It's difficult to know what will happen with the mutation of the virus. It's necessary to get vaccinated, to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus to an absolute minimum,'' she noted.

"Just because someone is young is at lower risk of developing complications, doesn't mean we can be absolutely sure that there will be no complications. We don't yet know what kind of clinical picture Omicron causes," she said, adding that research suggesting a milder clinical picture had been done in younger people and that the typical therapy and treatment were the same as for Delta-infected people.

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January the 8th, 2022 - Deputy Rebro hospital director Milivoj Novak believes that there's no real point in continuing to test when we inevitably pass the mark of 50% of those being tested turning out to be positive for the novel coronavirus. He isn't for stricter measures, either.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, deputy Rebro hospital director Milivoj Novak, commented on the epidemiological situation in Zagreb's largest hospital for N1 as Omicron spreads.

"The situation is primarily under control, we have a lot of testing going on, 620 people were tested yesterday, the percentage of those infected is high. What's important to us is the following, we've prepared 250 beds which should cover months, and we're below 90 percent full, there are less than 30 patients in the intensive care unit and at the moment there is no danger that we will become overwhelmed currently,'' Milivoj Novak said.

Those contracting the infection and becoming unwell are getting younger and younger, he pointed out, but the good thing is that the number of seriously ill people needing hospital treatment is not growing. "It gives us hope that this is going to get better," he added.

"It's mostly unvaccinated people getting sick. Of course, the vaccinated, especially if they have serious diseases and belong to risk groups, can also get sick, but in principle, those who aren't vaccinated are the ones becoming unwell, they can also become extremely seriously ill,'' warned Milivoj Novak.

Milivoj Novak is against the introduction of any stricter measures

Asked how worried he is about the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, Milivoj Novak says it would be too bold to say they're' ''happy'' about Omicron. "According to some reports, the clinical picture of people infected with Omicron seems to be milder, but it would be too bold to say at this point, that that's what we all want," Novak said.

Speaking about the tightening of the country's epidemiological measures, Novak said that the current measures are "okay, but we don't adhere to them".

“We went through a lockdown. This is an epidemiologically good thing, but it isn't good for the functioning of society. Now we're paying the price of Christmas, and we'll pay the price of the New Year and we're also waiting to pay the price of people going skiing,'' said the deputy director of KBC Zagreb.

As for testing, he pointed out that the problem is that the maximum possible number of those needing to be tested has now been reached. "We tested 620 patients yesterday, we can't test more people than that, and when the percentage exceeds 50 percent of positive results, does it make sense to test even more?" Everyone is infected," Milivoj Novak said.

He hopes that the collapse of the healthcare system will not happen, because they have both plan B and plan C and they're well prepared.

"In theory, it's possible that everything might collapse, but I don't believe that will happen," he concluded.

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ZAGREB, 7 January, 2022 - The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, told a news conference on Friday that  the Omicron variant of coronavirus was spreading rapidly, but was not yet the dominant variant  in Croatia.

The fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country has begun as the fourth wave is subsiding, he said.

"Hospitalisations always come 14 days later, and it may happen that their number will follow this surge in new infection caseloads," said Capak. 

In December, a mere three cases of infection with Omicron were detected in Croatia. However, last Tuesday, the variant accounted for 80% of the new cases in Zagreb and 30% in the second largest city of Split.

Capak said that the Omicron variant would first become dominant in Zagreb and the wider area of Rijeka. For the time being, it does not seem to be dominant in continental Croatia, he noted.

Croatia's capacity for PCR tests seems to be reaching its maximum, with 20,000 tests per day being performed now. The authorities are considering a possibility of recognising rapid antigen tests as diagnostic tests, Capak said.

January 7, 2022 - Minister of Science and Education Radovan Fuchs spoke at a press conference and reaffirmed the return to school classes in Croatia from this Monday. He also added that there will be mandatory masks in Croatian schools for those in fifth grade and up, among other considerations.

"You can see that, as the Government has insisted that school classes in Croatia be given in person, we have reduced online teaching to a minimum. Despite its necessity, virtual classes have their downsides, even if it was made with the highest standards for which we received a lot of recognition," he said. He added that this is not a happy solution for the education of children and young people, especially given the other negative consequences of online teaching, such as isolation, which affects the development of students.

“Based on this, and in an effort to provide proper education in this time and moment, we strive to keep it in person, which has proven to be good,” he said. “Decisions on an eventual transition to online teaching are made on a regional level in cooperation with the Ministry. At this moment, we do not have an announcement from any county to think about it, thus everything will start normally from Monday", he said.

He added that exceptions are only possible in some schools with unavailable staff due to the omicron variant. "At the moment we have information about a school in a small town, where they have a shortened staff due to the epidemiological situation", he said.

Speaking about the measures in schools, Fuchs said that the same measures from November remain in force: mandatory masks in Croatian schools for students from 5th grade onwards, regardless of the space and distance. "In earlier grades, the distance is two meters or one and a half meters, and therefore the use of masks has been abolished. Children from first to fourth grade are in this group.''

In the end, he said that the vaccination of teachers has significantly improved. "Our average is about 70.1 or 71 percent. Again, in scientific institutes, it is almost 90 percent of the higher education system, 84-85 percent in secondary schools and 70.3 or 70 percent in primary schools'', he concluded.

Source: Telegram.hr

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

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ZAGREB, 7 January, 2022 - In the past 24 hours, 3,911 new cases of the novel coronavirus were detected in Croatia while 41 people have died as a consequence, the national COVID response team reported on Friday.

There are currently 38,666 active cases in the country, including 1,846 hospitalised patients, 245 of whom are on ventilators, while 17,928 persons are self-isolating.

To date, a total of 3,841,357 tests have been conducted, including 9,062 taken in the past 24 hours.

As of 6 January, a total of 4,793,621 doses of a vaccine have been administered, with 55.83% of the total population having been inoculated with at least one dose, or 66.50% of the adult population.

A total of 2,265,597 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 2,156,339 are fully vaccinated, which is 63.45% of the adult population.

ZAGREB, 6 Jan 2022 - On Thursday, for the second day in a row, Croatia recorded a record-high number of new coronavirus cases, 9,058, while another 33 COVID patients have died, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said.

In the past 24 hours, 19,975 persons were tested for the virus and almost half the tests came back positive.

There are 1,824 hospitalized COVID patients, including 244 on ventilators, and there are 39,853 active cases, while 20,633 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 745,544 coronavirus cases to date and the death toll is 12,764.

To date, 55.82% of the population has been vaccinated, including 66.49% of adults, of whom 63.44% fully.

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January 6, 2021 - A record 8,587 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in Croatia yesterday, and 32 people died. A tightening of current epidemiological measures is expected throughout the country.

After the worst day of the infection, stricter epidemiological measures could be introduced throughout Croatia, such as limiting the work of cafes to 10 pm and canceling gatherings with a larger number of participants, reports Net.hr.

In Croatia, yesterday's record number of positives among those tested, more precisely 8,587 newly infected among 18,689 tested, confirms the virus has been unleashed in another difficult stage of the pandemic. But despite the large numbers, some believe that "omicron is the way out of the pandemic through collective immunity", and thus stricter epidemiological measures are not necessary; something which scientists, disagree with.

The pressure of coastal counties to introduce new stricter measures to at least reduce the rate of coronavirus spread is still strong because, for example, in Split-Dalmatia County, the number of infected among those tested has already exceeded 60 percent and testing capacity is too low, and it records an increasing number of hospitalized and patients on respirators.

With more than 9000 new cases unofficially confirmed today, the Headquarters could introduce some new measures, which would primarily mean shortening the work of cafes until 10 pm and canceling gatherings with many participants until further notice.

The measures will apply to the whole country, not just the coast, probably because the numbers are on the rise in all counties. The proposal to use covid certificates more extensively has not passed so far, although it has long been a routine, for example, in cafes in countries where the vaccination of citizens is much higher than in Croatia.

The latest research by British scientists from the University of East Anglia confirms that hesitation with the introduction of stricter measures in Croatia could result in severe consequences for the health of citizens.

They claim that weak epidemiological measures at the time of virus spread and poor vaccination pose a high risk for vulnerable groups, especially those who must not be vaccinated for some health reason or cannot gain immunity due to their health condition such as those with compromised immune systems.

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ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday at a government session that there was a record-high number of new coronavirus infections, as many as 8,587, which, he said, was also due to the Omicron variant.

The number of new infections in the last 24 hours is around 50% higher than last week and twice the number of two weeks ago.

"The figures are as expected and prove that the new variant, Omicron, is probably very much present in Croatia as well. It will not spare anyone, we know that it is a much more transmissible variant of the coronavirus," Plenković said while opening the session.

The rise in new infections is particularly evident in Split-Dalmatia County, which today has the largest number of new infections, more than Zagreb, and where the number of new cases is three times higher than two weeks ago.

One in five new infections was identified either in Split-Dalmatia County or Zagreb, he said.

One in four citizens above 65 still not vaccinated

Underlining again the importance of compliance with epidemiological rules and vaccination, Plenković called on all citizens who still have not been vaccinated to get immunised, and those who have been vaccinated to get a third, booster dose, noting that there is a sufficient number of doses for all citizens.

Sixty-six percent of adults have received one vaccine dose, and 63% two doses while 543,000 citizens have received a booster dose, he said.

One in four citizens above 65 is still not vaccinated, including as many as 180,000 who have not received a single dose, while 37,000 have received only one.

"They are at risk of developing more serious symptoms, something that should be prevented with vaccination," the PM said, noting that the Omicron variant is infectious two days before the appearance of the first symptoms.

ZAGREB, 5 January, 2022 - Croatia has registered 8,587 new coronavirus cases and 32 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Wednesday.

This is a new record high number of daily cases of the infection after 10 November when Croatia registered 7,315 new cases.

In the last 24 hours, 18,689 coronavirus tests have been performed and 46% of them have turned out to be positive.

The number of active cases in the country currently stands at 35,202. Among them are 1,841 infected persons receiving hospital treatment, including 230 who are on ventilators, and 17,413 persons are self-isolating.

To date, 55.77% of the total population, or 66.43% of adults have been given a vaccine for COVID-19. Furthermore, 63.30% of adults have fully been vaccinated.

ZAGREB, 4 Jan 2022 - The homeless will be able to get tested for coronavirus for free in Zagreb as of 5 January, which will enable them to get a COVID certificate and thus access social and healthcare services, the city department for social welfare, health, and persons with disabilities said on Tuesday.

"The goal is to provide the homeless with access to social and healthcare services, as well as to services of other institutions in which they can exercise their rights. As of 5 January, testing will take place every Wednesday from 12 to 3 p.m. at 64-66 Heinzelova Street," the city department said.

The campaign is carried out in cooperation with the "Dr. Andrija Štampar" Public Health Institute, the Croatian Red Cross, and the City Red Cross Society Zagreb.

Users will be able to get their certificate at the same location where they got tested.

In case they test positive, the "Dr. Andrija Štampar" Public Health Institute will give them all the necessary instructions on what to do next.

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