ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 184 new COVID cases while seven people have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

There are currently 1,290 active cases in the country, including 482 hospitalized patients, 48 of whom are on ventilators.

A total of 358,245 cases of coronavirus have been registered since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020 and 8,110 people have died. A total of 348,845 people have recovered, with 217 of them recovering in the past 24 hours.

Currently, 6,865 people are in self-isolation.

To date, a total of 2,065,437 people have been tested for the virus, including 5,435 in the past 24 hours.

By 9 June a total of 1,986,929 doses of vaccines were administered. So far 1,370,306 people have received at least one dose while 616,623 have received both shots.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

June 10, 2021 - It's been a year since fans were in the stands, and as the epidemiological situation improves, progress is being made to bring back spectators. But will vaccinated fans at Croatian stadiums be the reality? A closer look. 

Croatian football stadiums could finally be open to the public at the beginning of the championship season, in the second half of July. But it is likely to be only for people who have been vaccinated, T.portal has learned from several sources.

A formal decision on this will be announced in the meantime and could only be postponed if there is a dramatic deterioration of the epidemiological situation.

The first round of the Croatian national championship takes place on July 16, 17, and 18, and a week after that, Croatian clubs will start their campaigns in European competitions. Almost the entire last season was played in front of empty stadiums, and there are increasingly loud demands to allow the return of spectators.

The director of the Split-Dalmatia County Teaching Institute for Public Health, Željka Karin, confirmed for T.portal that things are moving in this direction. Apparently, the official initiative will come from her.

"If the favorable situation persists until July, we will propose to the National Headquarters to open stadiums at least in part of their capacity, for people who have been vaccinated," Karin told T.portal. She added that, if the need arises, vaccinations can be organized for football fans and citizens who want to attend the matches in the coming days and weeks.

The National Headquarters unofficially said that this development was 'quite real.'

The Split Basketball Club also invited its fans to get vaccinated and organized a special action for those who want to return to the stands.

"KK Split has organized for all its fans, members, shareholders, friends, and players vaccination against COVID-19 at the Institute of Public Health, Vukovarska 46. On Thursday, June 10, from 12 to 2 pm, just come, bring your ID and health card; the 'code' for vaccination is KK Split - yellow family. Let's be responsible, let's be in the stands next season!" published the Split club on its website.

At the moment, Croatia has sufficient quantities of vaccines, and in some counties, the vaccination of interested citizens has already been organized without prior notice. In Split, for example, it is held at the Spaladium arena every working day from 12 to 2 pm.

Citizens who really want to return to stadiums and halls will have to calculate the amount of time needed to be fully vaccinated. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are given in two doses three weeks apart, after which it is necessary to wait another two weeks to receive a valid Covid confirmation. So a total of five weeks after receiving the first dose.

The Johnson vaccine is given in only one dose. Still, after that, it is necessary to wait another 22 days to form antibodies and for documents to be issued to attend such public events.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

Follow the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

June the 10th, 2021 - There has been a lot of conversation surrounding the controversial so-called ''covid passports'', which Croatia has already introduced. Of course, in true Croatian fashion, the Croatian covid certificate has been plagued (no pun intended) with issues from the very beginning.

The rules appear simple if you want to get your hands on a Croatian covid certificate. You either have to have been vaccinated, have proof of having recovered from the disease, or have a negative PCR test result proving you aren't hosting the novel virus. Easy, right? No. Not at all.

Many people who have previously contracted and then recovered from the disease, including myself, are unable to get their Croatian covid certificate approved. Many people had absolutely no idea they had the disease, either having only very mild symptoms or being asymptomatic, and as such never sought medical attention, testing, or proof of them being infected. The number of people who have actually been infected is more than likely far higher than official records suggest. This poses a massive problem and despite Croatia's attempts to ''avoid discrimination'' - this is precisely what this is.

As a result of numerous complaints, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic has decided to speak out about the Croatian covid certificate, claiming that all is working well, much to the frustration of very many people who are entitled to the document, but can't get it.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Bozinovic announced on social media that the Croatian system for issuing the EU digital COVID certificate, also referred to in this article as the Croatian covid certificate, has confirmed its full functionality and interoperability. Many would disagree.

"More than 100,000 people managed to have their certificates approved in just seven days," wrote Bozinovic, who said the certificate was eligible for 1.7 million people, who had either been vaccinated or had contracted the disease and since recovered.

The problem of those who overcame the disease, but didn't confirm that with by taking a PCR test, however, still remains an enormous problem, writes RTL vijesti/news. This is a huge issue which it seems nobody even thought about when coming up with this idea, which honestly seems incredibly shortsighted.

By the way, the European Parliament has adopted regulations on its digital certificate which will be applied at the level of the entire bloc from the 1st of July. The certificate will be issued free of charge by the national authorities and will be available in either digital and paper form and will contain a QR code.

The document will serve as confirmation that the person has been vaccinated, has a new negative test result, or has overcome the disease. In practice, these will be three different confirmations. The EU Common Framework will ensure the interoperability and verifiability of certificates throughout the Union and prevent their forgery and fraud.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

June 10, 2021 - German and Swiss tourists in Croatia can now visit without restriction upon returning home, which is a great sign for tourism on the Croatian coast. 

Slobodna Dalmacija reports that the best news for the Croatian tourism sector in the last two years came from Germany and Switzerland. After the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week removed the entire Croatian coast from the red epidemiological zone and placed it in the yellow zone, the German state epidemiological institute Robert Koch removed Croatia from the list of high-risk areas on Monday.

Moreover, Split-Dalmatia County, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Istria County, Karlovac County, Krapina-Zagorje County, and Požega-Slavonia County entered the green zone of this prestigious institute. The whole of Croatia was removed from the list of epidemiologically high-risk countries on Tuesday by Switzerland, with the abolition of all restrictions on completely vaccinated persons, persons who have recovered from Covid-19, but also those who have not been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid, but travel by land.

Since the ECDC map, like the opinion of the German Robert Koch Institute, is considered the most relevant indicator of destination safety for European tourists, the door to a successful season in Croatia in early June is wide open to all Europeans, who no longer have to isolate themselves after returning from the Adriatic. This is the best confirmation that the epidemiological situation is the only criterion that will determine the success of the season and that the effort of reaching the "green" in some regions pays off.

"Given the current epidemiological situation as well as the forecasts for the coming weeks, and if something unforeseen does not happen in the next period, the overall result of the season could be significantly better than last year, but still below the record 2019. What is crucial is that we ensure a quality epidemiological situation for as long as possible, preferably to be "green" at least until October," said Veljko Ostojić, director of the Croatian Tourism Association.

How important it is for Croatia to be in the green zone of epidemiological safety in Germany is shown by the fact that 1.5 million Germans arrived during last year's Covid season while we were in the green zone, so even better numbers can be expected this year.

Croatian tourism partners from Germany welcomed three Adriatic counties in the green zone with great pleasure, which is why the airlines will certainly strengthen their routes to Split and Dubrovnik. Thus, Split Airport already has 30 confirmed airlines in June, with the expected 80,000 passengers.

Eight regular lines have been announced to Germany, seven to France, five to Poland, four to Great Britain, three to Switzerland, two to Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and one to Serbia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Russia, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Denmark.

In addition to many airlines already operating to Split, Aeroflot from Moscow, Air France from Paris, Iberia from Madrid, British Airways from London, Luxair from Luxembourg, Ryanair from Dublin, Edelweiss from Zurich returned to Split Airport, Ukraine International and Windrose from Kyiv resumes in early June. Last weekend alone, 70 flights landed on regular routes, and 8,000 passengers passed through Split Airport.

"At the moment, bookings for July, August, and September are excellent. For some types of accommodation facilities, it is even at the level of 2019. We are already seeing a much fiercer market competition, considering that we are no longer the only Mediterranean country that can achieve significant international tourist traffic in such epidemiological conditions this year. The whole main season is ahead of us, and we must be careful not to repeat the mistakes of last year," warns Ostojic.

"Croatia is primarily a car destination, which is why it is logical that guests from key markets first visit Istria and Kvarner and Zadar County. As for our southern destinations, we expect a larger influx of guests after June 15, i.e., from the beginning of July, when over 180 airlines from our most important markets start operating. We are especially looking forward to direct flights from the USA to Dubrovnik," said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

Follow the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 9 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has logged 275 new coronavirus cases and seven people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Wednesday.

There are 1,330 active cases in the country, including 520 hospitalised patients, 51 of whom are on ventilators.

Croatia has registered 358,061 cases of the novel coronavirus since it was first identified in the county on 25 February 2020 and 8,103 people have died as a consequence. A total of 348,628 people have recovered from the contagion, including 159 in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 6,819 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 2,060,002 tests have been conducted and of that number, 5,970 were conducted in the past 24 hours.

By 8 June a total of 1,947,784 doses of vaccines have been administered. So far 1,357,103 people have received at least one dose while 590,681 have received both shots.

On 8 June alone, 27,128 shots were administered, the response team said.

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

ZAGREB, 8 June, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 178 new coronavirus cases and five related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 management team reported on Tuesday. 

Currently, there are 1,221 active cases, including 545 infected people receiving hospital treatment, of whom 51 are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 357,786 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,096 have died and 348,469 have recovered, including 195 in the last 24 hours. A total of 6,954 persons are currently self-isolating.

To date, 2,054,032 people have been tested for the virus, including 6,814 in the last 24 hours.

By 7 June, 1,920,656 vaccine doses have been administered, with 1,345,741 people receiving one dose and 574,915 receiving both doses. On 7 June alone, 16,983 vaccine doses were administered.

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

June the 7th, 2021 - Croatian epidemiologist Branko Kolaric sat down recently to discuss the rapidly approaching tourist season and what that might mean for infection rates in Croatia when all the foreign tourists leave at the end of summer.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, epidemiologist Branko Kolaric commented on the current epidemiological situation for N1 this morning, and when speaking about the restrictions in care homes and nursing homes, he said that for the oldest and most unwell residents of such facilities, visitors should be allowed in for longer than fifteen minutes if the said visitor is vaccinated.

"The only thing left of the restrictive measures in care homes is if the resident hasn't yet been vaccinated, and was in the hospital, that after hospital treatment they go into self-isolation and that unvaccinated visitors can visit them for only fifteen minutes," Branko Kolaric told N1.

He said that the current vaccination rate across Croatian nursing homes is very good.

''We really do have a high turnout and currently there are a total of just twenty infected people living in nursing homes across Croatia. Of those who have fallen ill, the majority are unvaccinated people, but also some people who have been vaccinated. We know that the vaccine doesn't protect anyone at a level of 100 percent, but in the third wave, mortality was reduced by twenty times,'' explained Branko Kolaric, adding that he hoped that this pace of vaccination would continue so that we could enter autumn more calmly.

"We still have enough people interested in getting vaccinated and I hope that we will continue to have those people vaccinated in sufficient numbers," Branko Kolaric added.

''It's possible that we have variations and don't have a descent to zero as we had last summer and that is why it's still important to adhere to the anti-epidemic measures, avoid having too much contact with others, especially people who aren't yet vaccinated, and to avoid larger crowds, because in doing all that you can get infected,'' said Kolaric.

He also spoke about a possible easing of the country's epidemiological measures.

''I do think that the measures will be revised before the summer arrives and it's possible that the provision of wearing masks in areas where people have been vaccinated will be abolished. So, it all depends on how many people get vaccinated. That being said, we can't rely solely on vaccination, but we must also adhere to measures until we achieve collective immunity. Where vaccination coverage is low, at around 30-40 per cent, it remains possible that new waves of infection will occur. We need a very high percentage of vaccination,'' explained Kolaric.

Many countries are currently talking about the new wave of the coronavirus pandemic that awaits them and that the question is not whether or not it will happen, but how strong it will be. Asked if a new wave of infection awaits Croatia after the tourist season, Branko Kolaric said that on the one hand it is a matter of speculation, and that, taking into account the situation in the country's nursing homes, where there are ten times fewer infected people and twenty times fewer deaths, we can expect just that.

''That’s why we need to vaccinate people. We're never going to completely eliminate the virus, but it is important to reduce the number of deaths caused by it,'' concluded Branko Kolaric.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centres and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

June 7, 2021 – With many in Croatia hoping for a more relaxed summer than 2020, all eyes and ears are on the country's healthcare professionals. Here's some news from the COVID front and the adult population vaccination rate in Croatia.

The constant following COVID19 infections are getting rather tiring for everyone. Croatians have turned their attention massively towards the tourism season and summer as the only chance to enjoy a bit of rest and relaxation. As the strain on the health system starts to lessen, the questions surrounding the future of restrictions imposed on businesses grow more common.

It is evident the main factor for getting life back to normal will be the vaccination process. Index.hr reports on the latest trends. Their article quotes Diana Mayer, an epidemiologist with the Croatian Institute of Public Health. She expressed her satisfaction with the interest in vaccination. It is no secret there have been those opposing the vaccine in Croatia But it seems a bigger part of the population is willing to get vaccinated in hope of restrictions being lifted. The official data says 1,33 million Croatians have been vaccinated at least once, with roughly 564,000 of those receiving both doses. In a country of barely 4 million inhabitants, this is not a negligible result. According to Mayer, we are to see half of the population vaccinated by the end of June. Hopefully, this translates into a calmer Autumn.

Positive Trend

On Sunday the 6th of June 2021, there were 157 new cases of COVID19 infections in Croatia. The numbers seem to be going down, but it is way too early to draw any optimistic conclusions about the trends in near future. The waiting time for people who register for vaccination is also declining. Epidemiologist Mayer said this is not due to the decline of interest. More positive news comes from KB Dubrava (Clinical Hospital Dubrava), the largest COVID hospital in Croatia. KB Dubrava is to resume its normal function today and starts receiving non-COVID19 patients after 217 days. Let's hope this is just the beginning of a long-lasting positive trend.

 For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

June the 6th, 2021 - The newly launched and much talked about Croatian digital covid certificates are already causing issues among many, even with the desire not to discriminate being put first. For some reason, those who have recovered from the infection are struggling to have their certificates approved.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as of Wednesday, Croatian digital covid certificates have been being issued here in Croatia. However, in the first two days of them being ''live'' alone, it was shown that this system of confirmation with which vaccinated people or those who have already recovered from COVID-19 can freely cross the border without additional tests has multiple shortcomings.

More precisely, a grey zone has opened up which includes a huge number of people who contracted and have since recovered from the disease, but are not registered anywhere in the system. Their requests for Croatian digital covid certificates were all rejected.

"This is discrimination, I don't know how else to describe it. We've found ourselves in the grey zone, not through our own fault, but because of the official recommendation of epidemiologists and GPs,'' stated an indignant Zadar native for Slobodna Dalmacija who immediately asked for a Croatian digital covid certificate through the e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) system so that she could travel. However, the answer she received was clear - no.

"If I want to travel now, and that's the main reason why I want this certificate, I can't do it without paying yet again, this time I need to fork out eight hundred kuna because PCR testing at the Zadar County Public Health Institute costs that much. It's the most expensive in the country. And not once, but twice, when entering and then when leaving Croatia. If that's not discrimination, then I don’t know what is. Especially in light of these announcements that we're going to co-finance antigen tests for foreign tourists to come to us for holidays. That is simply not fair,'' she explained.

In Zadar County, more than fourteen thousand people have officially contracted the coronavirus. However, the main Zadar epidemiologist, Dr. Alan Medic, has repeatedly warned that the actual number of people who have become infected and since recovered with no record of that anyway is at least two to three times higher. This doesn't only apply to Zadar, but to the whole of Croatia. It is these people who are the grey zone today because they aren't registered anywhere, nor can they get Croatian digital covid certificates.

Why indivituals who have recovered from COVID-19 cannot get Croatian digital covid certificates and how we might resolve this issue was answered by Dr. Alan Medic, the head of epidemiology at the Zadar Institute of Public Health.

"The rules for obtaining Croatian digital covid certificates were adopted by the Ministry of Health and the Croatian Institute of Public Health, and you should forward this inquiry to them. What we can say is that at the time when we had the largest number of coronavirus patients in all of Croatia, it was the practice to test only one family member, and the rest, if they developed symptoms, were to contact their GP who then listed them as probably positive, but without any evidence. I believe that all people who have recovered from COVID-19, who have a sufficient number of antibodies or who have been registered with their doctor as probably positive should have the same rights as the proven positive ones,'' said Medic.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centres and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

June the 4th, 2021 - The Croatian vaccine rollout has been picking up its pace from its rather slow and problematic beginnings earlier this year, and with the numbers remaining favourable and epidemiological situation remaining somewhat stable, a new way of vaccinating Croatia's residents has been announced.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Neda Ferencic Vrban, a specialist from Zagreb's Andrija Stampar Institute, recently commented on the situation with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the Croatian vaccine rollout at the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebacki Velesajam).

"We invited about 2,000 people for vaccination today (on the 3rd of June), we think that everyone who has been invited will be vaccinated if everything goes according to plan as it has been over recent days," said Neda Ferencic Vrban, who vaccinates people herself at the aforementioned Zagreb location, writes N1.

Commenting on where the people were being invited to for their vaccinations, she said: “We don't have public calls, those people were referred for vaccination against the novel coronavirus by their GPs and through the Cijepi Se platform. A public call will come soon because we've set a goal to get 50 percent of the adult population vaccinated, so it will only be a mere matter of days before the public call is sent out and then there'll be no need to apply, people can just turn up, especially after these quantities [of the vaccine] have arrived,''

They currently don't have AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer is now being used for both doses in the Croatian vaccine rollout, she pointed out.

Speaking about giving people different doses, she said: “So far, we don't have any recommendations from the CNIPH in regard to mixing doses with different vaccines. As long as the instructions are that both doses must match from the same manufacturer, we'll continue to do it that way.''

When it comes to the topic of the vaccination of minors, she said: "The recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health have arrived with regard to research and the recommendation is for children aged 12 to 16 to be vaccinated with Pfizer, and first of all that will involve vulnerable groups who have existing conditions which would worsen if they became infected.''

Commenting on the rapidly approaching tourist season and the Croatian vaccine rollout's relation to it, she said: “The recommendation is vaccination, responsibility towards oneself and to others. Only vaccination will finally take us out of the pandemic and let us return to our normal way of living.''

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.