November the 21st, 2021 - The very first real warnings to those who fail to respect the current Croatian covid measures, which have seen the widening of the use of covid certificates, are set to be issued as of Monday.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, it appears that Minister Radovan Fuchs has caught the interest of many teachers and others working in the field of education with his ideas on this matter.

''I'm going to personally ask the National Civil Protection Directorate to consider the possibility to make it so those who get vaccinated don't have to wait a further 21 days after their first dose of the vaccine to get their hands on a certificate, but that they can still enter their workplaces with some other form of vaccination certificate,'' said Radovan Fuchs.

This, many in schools say, would encourage the vaccination of those still in doubt, and it would be easier to overcome the wait until the second dose.

''Perhaps one of the ways to provide support to our colleagues and the opportunity to come and hold live classes at their workplace is with this confirmation of them having had their first vaccine,'' said Branka Stefok Bojadjija, the director of Borovje Elementary School in the City of Zagreb.

''That could be a very positive move, it would make it easier for teachers not to have to wait for new tests,'' added Marija Mihaljevic, a pedagogue at an elementary school in Zagreb.

''I think it's okay, our responsibility is primarily to others, we work with students, we wear masks, we keep our distance,'' said Jelena Skupnjak, a Professor of Physics at Dubrava Elementary School, also in Zagreb.

''We welcome any solution that makes life easier for employees,'' said Zeljko Stipic for HRT, but the question now is how much will proposing possible further steps in cases of decision violations in Croatian schools make life difficult for head teachers and principals?

''After three days from the implementation of the latest Decision of the National Civil Protection Directorate, today, according to the instructions of our the competent ministry, school principals should start handing out the first warnings to any employees who don't respect Croatian covid measures, and after five days, if they continue not respecting the measures, they'll get a second warning,'' said Zeljko Stipic of the Preporod School Union.

We won't even talk about the third one, which is dismissal, which would cause a lot of harm to a system that is already struggling with finding proper replacements. We have given people instructions, we're giving everyone a chance, but the Croatian covid measures and the rules must be respected. It's just like if drive through a red light, if someone catches you then you'll have to pay a fine,'' Minister Fuchs warned.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - Several thousand people from all over Croatia arrived in Zagreb on Saturday for a protest against mandatory COVID-19 certificates and epidemiological restrictions in force.

The Zagreb city police department said earlier in the day that the protest had not been announced.

"I believe scientist Gordan Lauc", "No to blind belief in authorities", "Live and let others live" were some of the messages on banners carried by the protesters who gathered in two squares, Trg Francuske republike and Trg žrtava fašizma, before starting their march towards the city's central Trg Bana Josipa Jelačića square.

Participants in the protest, which is also called the Silent White March on social networks, want the government to abolish COVID-19 certificates, which prove one's vaccination against or recovery from COVID-19 and which have become obligatory for employees of government and public institutions as well as everyone else entering those institutions.

Zagreb police said the organisers of the protest had not asked for permission to stage the event so the police would film its participants.

Before the protest, some of its participants said that citizens who do not have COVID-19 certificates are being unconstitutionally and unlawfully excluded from public life and prevented from going to work or school.

"It is our civic duty to oppose discrimination against any person, social divisions and the use of this discriminatory certificate as grounds for that," reads a statement whose authors identify themselves as citizens, participants of the Silent White March.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 -  In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 65 COVID-19-related deaths and 5,614 new infections, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday.

There are currently 34,882 active cases of the infection. A total of 2,542 COVID patients are hospitalised and 320 of them are on ventilators. As many as 27,969 people are in self-isolation.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020, there have been 566,118 registered cases of the contagion and 10,243 people have died.

A total of 520,993 people have recovered, including 5,640 in the past 24 hours.

To date, 3,339,432 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 12,823 in the last 24 hours.

52.04% of total population vaccinated

As of Friday, November 19, a total of 3,963,116 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 52.04 per cent of the total population, or 62.14 per cent of the adult population, having been vaccinated.

As of Friday, 2,111,804 people have received at least one dose and 1,889,974 have been fully immunised, which is 55.85 per cent of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 19 Nov 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 65 COVID-19-related deaths and 2,234 new infections, the national COVID-19 response team said on Friday.

The number of new infections is lower as is the number of tests conducted - 5,626, considering that Thursday was a public holiday.

A total of 2,539 COVID patients are hospitalised and 327 of them are on ventilators.

There are currently 34,973 active cases of the infection and 24,381 people are in self-isolation.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020, there have been a total of 560,504 registered cases of the contagion and 10,178 people have died.

A total of 515,353 people have recovered, including 6,230 in the past 24 hours.

To date, 51.73% of the population, that is, 61.79% of the adult population, has received at least one vaccine dose. 55.67% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated.

ZAGREB, 18 Nov 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 7,270 new COVID-19 cases and 63 deaths, the national COVID response team reported on Thursday.

There are 39,034 active cases in the country, including 2,513 hospitalized patients, 324 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there have been a total of 558,270 registered cases of contagion and the death toll has climbed to 10,113. A  total of 509,123 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, including 5,317 in the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 26,602 people self-isolating.

To date, 3,320,983 tests have been performed, with 17,230 samples taken in the past 24 hours.

As of 17 November, a total of 3,931,774 doses of a vaccine had been administered, with 51.63% of the total population, or 61.67% of the adult population, having been vaccinated.

On Wednesday alone, 33,122 doses of a vaccine were administered, with 18,574 people receiving the first dose.

To date, 2,095,085 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 1,881,107 people, or 55.60% of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated.

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ZAGREB, 18 Nov 2021 - Croatia's Ambassador to Austria, Danijel Glunčić, was called to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday over Croatian President Zoran Milanović's statement about the Austrian coronavirus policy, the Croatian Embassy has confirmed to Hina.

"I can confirm that I was called to the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Ambassador Glunčić told Hina, declining to reveal details of the discussion.

According to a statement from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Glunčić was called over "highly unusual statements by the Croatian president," which were "sharply rejected".

"Comparing the measures against the coronavirus pandemic to fascism is unacceptable. It is our responsibility to protect the citizens of Austria and we are acting accordingly," the Austrian ministry said, as quoted by APA news agency.

"We clearly conveyed our surprise at these statements to the Croatian ambassador in Austria," said Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Austrian media quoted the Croatian president as saying after an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Monday that the Austrian decision to impose a lockdown on unvaccinated people was "reminiscent of the 1930s" and called it foolish.

On Monday, Austria imposed restrictions on the freedom of movement for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who have not recovered from the disease. These people are allowed to leave their homes only to buy food, visit a doctor or a pharmacy and go to work. Failure to comply with this measure is subject to a fine of up to €1,450.

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November the 18th, 2021 - The director of the Croatian Public Health Institute, Krunoslav Capak, has warned that free coronavirus testing isn't going to be a long lasting offer, and that there are enough doses of the vaccine for everyone who hasn't yet had it.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Krunoslav Capak confirmed recently for the second time that free coronavirus testing, more precisely testing done at the expense of employers will not last long. He also denied that the use of Croatian covid certificates would be expanded even further.

"It's certain that this will be discussed in case the situation continues to deteriorate. For now, we've got stagnant (infection) numbers, meaning that our numbers have decreased somewhat, but in any case we'll continue to talk about it because our strategy is to closely monitor the situation and expand or reduce measures at any given time,'' said Capak, stating that his statement was taken out of context earlier on.

He says the first day of Croatian covid certificates being needed to access state and public services went well.

"Whenever such a measure is adopted, which is related to infrastructure, certain activities carried out by healthcare services, coronavirus testing sites, the willingness of people to accept things... there are always some problems, but I'd say that it went well. What we now know is that the introduction of covid certificates in healthcare and social care facilities went very well, there were only a few people who didn't want to be tested, and many of them were vaccinated. The measure obviously has its effect, and the aim of that measure is to protect people’s health in the workplace. I think this has gone very well, we had almost 54,000 people tested and among them, almost 1300 people who turned out positive, they are now in ten-day isolation and won't continue to spread the disease further which will contribute to a better epidemiological situation,'' explained Capak.

When asked by the manager how long free coronavirus testing will be performed for unvaccinated employees at the expense of their employer, Capak answered that the measure was introduced with an unlimited duration, but that nobody should be under any illusions that it will go on for long in reality.

"It will be discussed, it will be decided, but it will certainly not be for a long time. Everyone will be given the opportunity to think about it and decide to get vaccinated, there are enough vaccines for people, mass vaccination sites are available to everyone to us, everyone can come and be vaccinated. It's necessary to wait for the people who have now decided to get vaccinated to receive their certificates, and then the state should decide to stop paying for this free coronavirus testing and then those who still don't want to be vaccinated will need to pay for it themselves. Those who cannot be vaccinated for various medical reasons are exempt from the testing measure,'' Capak told HRT.

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ZAGREB, 17 Nov 2021 - Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said on Wednesday the COVID certificate and testing mandates were being complied with in most cases without excessive problems and that sanctions should be imposed for those flouting them.

The mandates by the national COVID-19 crisis management team are being implemented as conceived and planned, he told the press after a cabinet meeting.

"The principals have organised things brilliantly and we are in contact with them," Fuchs said, adding that some school employees "refused testing and de facto entered schools and held classes. No one physically stopped them."

He said there was no need to hire security or police to remove people like that. He called their behaviour irresponsible, saying that no one is forcing anyone to get vaccinated and that the certificates and the testing are a measure to comprehensively curb the pandemic.

Fuchs hopes "those people will come to their senses and that they will not follow some... political projects and attempts by individuals who are trying to score cheap political points by irresponsibly playing with the health of our fellow citizens."

He said he would meet with Justice Minister Ivan Malenica and Health Minister Vili Beroš today in an attempt to find a way to legally regulate the flouting of COVID rules.

ZAGREB, 17 Nov 2021 - The Croatian government on Wednesday authorised the head of Zagreb's "Dr Fran Mihaljević" hospital for infectious diseases, Alemka Markotić, to sign an agreement on the procurement of a combination medicine for the treatment of COVID-19, manufactured by F. Hoffmann - La Roche.

After the European Commission enabled the procurement of the combination medicine, consisting of casirivimab and imdevimab, in negotiations with the drug producer, each EU member state must sign a separate agreement with the Roche subsidiary in the country of delivery.

Under the government's decision, the medicine will be procured by 31 December.

Health Minister Vili Beroš said that based on the epidemiological situation, the necessary monthly quantity of the drug was around 200 doses in the next nine-month period.

The price of the drug is €2,065 per dose, not including VAT, so the nine-month supply will cost HRK 29.29 million (€3.9 million), including VAT.

The necessary funds have been secured by the Croatian Health Insurance Institute, said Beroš.

The government today also decided to donate 305,922 COVID-19 vaccine doses to the countries most in need, in line with an estimate by the COVAX mechanism, with Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman saying global cooperation and solidarity were key to fighting the pandemic.

ZAGREB, 17 Nov 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday announced legislative changes and sanctions for persons defying the COVID-19 certificate mandate and inciting protests, describing as unusual protests against mandatory testing.

Addressing a government session, Pleković said that he had instructed Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica, Health Minister Vili Beroš and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović to see which of the relevant laws should be amended to introduce fines for those defying rules introduced by the COVID-19 response team.

He recalled that the introduction of COVID-19 certificates did not make vaccination compulsory but made it possible for vaccinated persons to get in contact with unvaccinated persons who have been tested while enabling unvaccinated persons with a test to function normally, either at work in government or public institutions or as users of their services.

He added that this was a social compromise that required only taking a benign swab.

"I do not see why taking a simple swab should pose a problem for anyone, it turns out the protests are not because of vaccination but because of testing, because of a swab that takes a second. It's very unusual if that poses a problem to such a large number of people," he said.

He added that he was not sure that swabbing is what bothers the protesters and the people inciting protests.

"Nobody can convince me that swabbing is the problem, notably to those who incite protests or defiance against COVID certificates and who have been vaccinated," he said.

He recalled that COVID-19 had caused direct financial damage in the amount of HRK 40 billion and 10,000 deaths, noting that the government would insist on the COVID certificate mandate and amend the relevant laws to punish non-compliance.

As for people inciting protests, he said that if they have political ambitions, they should say so openly, "instead of pretending to be freedom fighters after they have received a booster shot."

More than 100,000 people vaccinated with first dose over past week

Plenković also presented encouraging data, saying that over the past seven days, as many as 104,000 people had received the first vaccine dose while 100,000 had received a booster shot.

He said that the ongoing, fourth wave of the pandemic had hit Europe hardest and that in the past two weeks the number of new infections had been on the rise in 22 of the 27 EU member countries, with increases ranging from 45% to 180%, while Croatia had seen a 58% increase in the number of new cases.

He expressed sympathy with the families of people who had died of COVID-19, noting that the number of fatalities exceeded 10,000.

"It is a fact that the number of fatalities could and should have been lower if more people had got vaccinated," he said, adding that the infection was the most dangerous for people who had not been vaccinated while those who died but had been vaccinated were largely elderly people and people with underlying medical conditions.