November 22, 2021 - Despite recent massive protests against the mandate to use COVID certificates, the use of these to enter restaurants, cafes, and other businesses is supported by more than half of the population in a recent survey.

As the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of daily deaths continue to rise in Croatia, two parallel realities are facing each other in the country. On one hand, the imposition of the use of COVID certificates to enter public institutions and soon private businesses has motivated thousands of Croats to get vaccinated in recent weeks. On the other hand, this has unleashed a mass movement of thousands of citizens who oppose the measure and demand that the government desists from the restrictions imposed.

Last night in the central Dnevnik of HTV, market research - HReiting was published, and one of the topics of the research was whether citizens support the introduction of COVID certificates for entering cafes and restaurants, reports HrTurizam.

When asked if you support the introduction of COVID certificates for entry to cafes and restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, following the example of other countries, a small majority of respondents support them. Namely, 55% of them support the introduction of COVID certificates for entering cafes and restaurants, while 40% of respondents do not. Others do not know or are not sure, ie. they do not want to answer.

The survey was conducted from November 15 to 17 on a sample of 1,400 respondents. The largest sample error is +/- 2.62% and the research reliability is 95%.

Croatia has registered 1,327 new coronavirus cases and 73 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday.

This is the largest number of deaths in a single day during the fourth wave of the pandemic, while the absolute record of 92 deaths was registered on 16 December 2020.

As of 21 November, 3,985,860 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, with 52.38 percent of the total population, or 62.54 percent of the adult population, having been vaccinated. 2,125,514 persons have received at least one dose, while 1,896,361 have been fully vaccinated, which is 56.04 percent of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 20 Nov, 2021 - Protesters against COVID-19 certificates on Saturday evening moved from Zagreb's central square to the part of the city where the HRT public broadcaster is located, demanding to see the HRT director and have their rally covered live and calling for an end to "censorship" by the HRT.

Dissatisfied with the way the HRT covered their protest in the central city square at 3 p.m., the protesters shouted "We want elections", "Referendum and people's rule", "Thieves", "Treason", "God's law is above all laws", demanding to see the HRT director and have their rally covered live.

The protesters were met by riot police, with a dozen police vehicles blocking access to the HRT building.

Some of the protesters demanded to see the editor in chief and that the protest be broadcast live, claiming that the HRT "cannot be a factory of censorship" and that "the HRT is lying to the Croatian people, spreading fear and enemy propaganda."

Claiming that they did not want to force anything on anyone and did not want others to do it to them, and shouting "We want truth" and "People rules" and singing patriotic songs, they continued to demand a response by the HRT, saying that "people want to say what they think" and the public broadcaster has the duty to report about it.

"This is no vaccine, this is poison", someone in the crowd could be heard saying while some protesters said the world was ruled by "Bill Gates, Talmudists and Soros's followers".

An HRT employee told the protesters that there was no one in the building they could talk to, to which they responded with shouts however the protest continued mostly without incidents and around 8 p.m. the protesters started to disperse.

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ZAGREB, 12 Nov - Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter on Thursday called on the government and the national COVID-19 response team to urgently publish their decision on mandatory COVID certificates considering that it should go into force in a few days and that its text and details of its implementation are unknown.

"The information is necessary to bodies and institutions so they can implement the decision, to their employees who must comply with it as well as to citizens whose many rights depend on their physical appearance at those places. The Ombudswoman has therefore recommended that the decision be urgently published, with complete and clear instructions regarding its implementation," the Office of the Ombudswoman said on its website, giving recommendations regarding the expansion of the use of the certificate to the entire government and public sector.

"The introduction of this measure has led to an increase in vaccination interest and that requires a faster and better response since we are witnessing queuing for vaccination. Citizens waiting to get vaccinated, however, will not be able to obtain a COVID-19 certificate right away and they will have to get tested in the coming period," Šimonović Einwalter noted, adding that it was necessary to make vaccination and testing broadly available as well as explain to citizens how they can exercise their rights before bodies of public authority until they meet conditions to obtain the certificate.

She warned about the need to ensure, at least during the transitional period, free testing for destitute citizens as well as those who cannot get vaccinated due to medical reasons.

The purpose of the recommendations is to contribute to the readiness of the system to implement the announced decision, the ombudswoman said, recalling that it was necessary to make sure the restriction of citizens' rights was proportional to the desired outcome - prevention of a further increase in the number of infections and deaths and alleviating the pressure on the health system by a growing number of patients requiring hospital treatment.

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ZAGREB, 4 Oct 2021 - In a comment on the introduction of COVID-19 certificates for workers in the healthcare and welfare systems, the head of the KBC Zagreb hospital, Ante Ćorušić, said on Sunday that an employee who does not have such a certificate and refuses to get tested will not be paid their daily wage.

There will be a number of points at the hospital where one will be able to get tested and have their COVID-19 certificates checked, Ćorušić said in a comment on new epidemiological rules, under which employees in the healthcare and welfare systems, visitors, and persons escorting patients have to have digital COVID-19 certificates as of 4 October.

KBC Zagreb has around 6,200 employees, and around 1,600 of them do not have COVID-19 certificates or proof that they have recovered from the coronavirus infection. We cannot force them to get vaccinated if they do not want to do it, Ćorušić said in an interview with the HTV public broadcaster on Sunday but noted that the situation was under control and that there were checkpoints at the hospital where COVID-19 certificates would be checked and testing would be performed.

He said that he believed that the new rules would nevertheless help raise awareness of the need to get vaccinated.

Asked if possibly penalties stricter than the non-payment of daily wages would follow, he said that according to available information, nobody would get fired.

"But those who do not want to get tested and do not have proof of recovery from the disease or proof of vaccination will not receive their daily wage. That wage will go to someone else who will have to work in their stead on that day," he added.

Ćorušić noted that not much would change for patients.

Most of the patients who expect to be hospitalized, even those awaiting specific medical procedures available in day hospitals, have COVID-19 certificates anyway, he said.

Patients with medical emergencies do not have to display COVID-19 certificates upon admission, however, "depending on the situation and their condition, some of them will definitely undergo PCR testing," Ćorušić added.

He noted that close to 90% of doctors at the KBC Zagreb and around 56% of nurses had been vaccinated, adding that a more rational approach would be to get vaccinated, thus protecting oneself, patients, and one's own family.

Julije Meštrović, head of the KBC Split hospital, said that 95% of doctors working at that hospital had been vaccinated or had recovered from COVID-19 as had around 90% of nurses.

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