ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Thursday that the experts form Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team were making all the necessary preparations to ensure the country was ready to address new epidemiological challenges in the autumn.

"The expert group from the COVID-19 crisis management team is analysing the current situation and possible scenarios in Croatia and in the European Union and is planning further steps in the preparation of the health care system and the implementation of the vaccination scheme against COVID-19," Beroš tweeted.

Croatia has been experiencing a new wave of highly infectious subvariants of coronavirus that have increased the share of positive cases among those tested to as much as 30%, with the daily number of new infections exceeding 1,000, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) has said. 

Omicron subvariants BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 are currently in circulation in Croatia, mostly affecting people aged 30-69 while children are less affected given the current school vacation, HZJZ officials have told Hina.

The new wave of the epidemic in Croatia started in late June, when the share of positive cases in the number of tested persons started to rise.

The largest number of new infections has been reported in the City of Zagreb and in Split-Dalmatia and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, while Virovitica-Podravina County has the most favourable situation, with only three new cases having been reported.

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ZAGREB, 13 April 2022 - The fight against the COVID-19 epidemic has cost the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) HRK 5 billion (€666.6m) over the last two years and two months, Jutarnji List newspaper said on Wednesday.

The cost only includes testing, treatment, sick leave and vaccination, but not other economic costs, the cost of equipment or the cost of conversion of hospitals and other facilities used for the treatment of COVID patients.

As for the costs covered by the HZZO, treatment cost around HRK 1.9 billion (€253.3m),  testing HRK 1.7 billion (€226.6m), sick leave HRK 290 million (€38.6m) and vaccination HRK 1 billion (€133.3m).

The newspaper said that the amount spent by the HZZO would be enough to cover the debts of the health care system.

In addition to the cost of health care, by far the most expensive measure was the government's job retention scheme, which cost HRK 18 billion (€2.4bn).

In total, at least HRK 23 billion (€3.06bn) has been spent on combating the coronavirus epidemic since the first case was confirmed in Croatia on 25 February 2020, according to Jutarnji List.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 16 March 2022 - Croatia has registered 2,659 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and ten people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

There are currently 10,240 active cases while 6,512 people are self-isolating.

There are 712 hospitalised patients, 44 of whom are on ventilators.

Croatia has registered a total of 1,077,365 cases of COVID-19 since its outbreak in February 2020 and 15,383 people have died as a consequence while 1,051,742 have recovered from the contagion.

To date, a total of 2,234,923 people have been fully vaccinated, which is 65.63% of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 3 Dec 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 4,521 new cases of coronavirus and 53 related deaths, the national COVID response team reported on  Friday.

There are currently 31,649 active cases, including 2,400 hospitalised patients, 313 of whom are on ventilators, while 26,494 people are self-isolating.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 623,776 cases of the novel coronavirus have been registered and the death toll has climbed to 11,096 while 581,031 people have recovered from the contagion, including 5,422 in the past 24 hours.

To date, a total of 3,489,551 tests have been conducted, including 12,073 in the past 24 hours.

As of 2 December, a total of 4,201,709 vaccine doses have been administered, with 54.18% of the total population or 64.63% of the adult population having been vaccinated.

A total of 2,198,680 people have received at least one dose while 1,960,066 people have been fully vaccinated, which is 57.87% of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 5 Nov 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 6,932 new coronavirus cases and 36 deaths, the national COVID response team reported on Friday.

That is the highest number of new cases yet in one day since the outbreak of the pandemic. The record until now was 6,310, which was registered on Thursday.

There are currently 28,541 active cases in the country, including 1,711 hospitalised patients, with 231 hooked on ventilators.

At the same time, there are 26,362 people self-isolating.

Since the start of the epidemic in Croatia in 25 February 2020, there have been 490,074 cases and 9,400 people have died as a consequence. A total of 452,133 people have recovered, of whom 3,983 in the past 24 hours.

To date, a total of 3,155,683 people have been tested, including 15,079 in the past 24 hours..

As of Wednesday evening, a total of 3,658,686 vaccine doses have been administered, with 47.57% of the total population or 56.94% of the adult population having received at least one dose. On 4 November, 17,038 doses were administered. A total of 7,798 people received their first shot of vaccine on Thursday..

A total of 1,990,471 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 1,811,801 are fully vaccinated, or 53.57% of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 29 Oct 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Friday a decision was made under which family doctors would contact their patients over 65 in the next fortnight about getting vaccinated because 31.3% of people in that age group have not been vaccinated against COVID.

The most vulnerable persons, those over 65, are the priority in protection from COVID, he said at a press conference of the national COVID-19 crisis management team, adding that 40% of those over 80 have not been vaccinated either.

If doctors fail to contact their patients over 65 in the next fortnight, they should visit them at home, or have a district nurse do so, in the next 30 days, and then report to the ministry about what they have achieved. Those infirm should be vaccinated at home.

Beroš appealed to the elderly to get vaccinated. "Vaccination saves lives and it is our obligation to enable it."

He said 97 of the 177 persons over 65 who died of COVID this past week had not been vaccinated.

However, he said, interest in vaccination is growing and almost 6,000 of the 13,292 vaccinated yesterday received their first shot, the highest number since late July. Week on week it was an increase of 34.5%, and of 51.8% when compared with two weeks ago.

Croatian Institute of Public Health director Krunoslav Capak said there were 48.8% more new cases today than a week ago.

In the past 24 hours, 26 of the 32 COVID patients who ended up on ventilators and 20 of the 26 who died were not vaccinated.

The head of Zagreb's infectious diseases hospital, Alemka Markotić, told women who planned to get pregnant to get vaccinated or to do so after giving birth.

COVID certificates can't replace vaccination

Asked why COVID certificates were not required more widely, the head of the crisis management team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said the certificates offered a certain security but could not be a replacement for vaccination, adding that only vaccination could result in the pandemic abating.

"We are trying to do our best to have people vaccinated. We are thinking more and more about not limiting COVID certificates only to those vaccinated. We will also look at when they were vaccinated."

No one is considering another lockdown, but citizens must understand that this is a situation we will not get rid off anytime soon, Božinović said.

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ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 3,258 coronavirus cases and 17 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Friday.

Such a high number of new infections was last reported in April.

There are 15,300 active cases, including 997 hospitalised patients, of whom 135 are on ventilators, while 25,359 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 439,447 coronavirus cases to date as well as 8,985 COVID deaths and 415,162 recoveries, including 1,658 in the past 24 hours, while 3,014,840 persons have been tested for the virus, with 10,309 in the past 24 hours.

To date 46.37% of the population has been vaccinated, including 55.57% of adults, of whom 52.31% fully.

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ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - Five members of the government's Scientific Council on Friday distanced themselves from all statements made by Council member Gordan Lauc about the coronavirus pandemic, notably his latest messages that the pandemic is over and that only elderly people should get vaccinated. 

"We fully distance ourselves from all statements about the pandemic made by Gordan Lauc since the summer of 2020," says the declaration signed by Andreja Ambriović Ristov, Petra Klepac, Branko Kolarić and academicians Nenad Ban and Igor Rudan.

They in particular distanced themselves from Lauc's messages in which he declared the pandemic over or claimed that there are circumstances in which it is better to get infected. Lauc downplays the effectiveness of the epidemiological measures and the need for their application, recommends vaccination only for persons above a certain age and insinuates a connection between the increased mortality rate in Croatia and vaccination, they said.

"Anyone who says that any one of us could agree with Gordan Lauc's statements about the pandemic is not telling the truth," the signatories said.

The five members of the Scientific Council said that "their views on the pandemic are based on the existing knowledge from relevant professions and constantly evolving scientific knowledge, which often requires changes and adjustments of the COVID-19 response strategy, which then need to be explained to the public."

"That is why a responsible interpretation of scientifically accepted knowledge is essential at any time during the pandemic in order to keep the public properly informed and to protect human lives and maintain the economic activity of Croatian citizens as much as possible," the declaration says.

Speaking in an interview with N1 television of his statement that the existing vaccines poorly protect against COVID-19, Lauc said that vaccination is not a mechanism to stop the spread of the virus, but that the vaccine provides excellent protection against serious forms of the virus. He said that he is a scientist whom the government has asked for an opinion, but that he is not a government employee and need not obey the government.

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ZAGREB, 10 Sept 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Friday that the media frenzy over COVID-19 was grating on people's nerves and that things should start going back to normal.

"We should know the aim of all this frenzy. If anybody tells me that the aim is to completely eradicate coronavirus, I will tell them that this is insane. It is impossible. What matters now is adjustment and resumption of normal life," Milanović told the press in his office.

The story with coronavirus will be over the moment we have more vaccinated people than those who are not vaccinated, he said.

"The media frenzy over coronavirus is starting to grate on people's nerves."

"Everything has been said. Those who have got vaccinated, have solved their problem. If you get vaccinated, you do not stand any chance of developing serious symptoms or consequences. It is then like the flu," the president said.

He also finds it insane to advocate the "obsessive culture of safety".

"No one can be absolutely safe and secure, there is no life without any risk or disease," the president underscored.

Commenting on the high prevalence of this topic in foreign media outlets, such as CNN, Milanović said that each day he wondered "whether he is normal or whether they have gone mad."

"This amounts to sowing panic, and they are not the only ones to have been doing that since the beginning (of the pandemic). Simply, there is no absolute safety that excludes any possibility of getting sick. People develop thousands of more serious diseases, while we have been commenting on COVID for a year and a half."

In response to the comments from the press that Croatia's vaccination rate has not exceeded 50%, Milanović said that he did not care any more about that, since this was a sufficient rate of vaccination.

"Everyone knows that... there is no chance of putting those people at risk," the Croatian president said.

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ZAGREB, 4 Sept, 2021 - Cattle farmers lose HRK 4.75  per kilo per head due to the corona crisis, the Zagreb-based Večernji List (VL) reported on Saturday.

Findings of a study, conducted by Osijek researchers Krunoslav Zmaić and David Kranjac, show that the corona crisis has caused disruption on the market.

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, fodder made up about 50% of the material costs in businesses led by cattle farmers. However, cereals and oil crops' price hikes have raised this percentage to 80%.

The average price of soybean skyrocketed 50.49% this year in comparison to their five-year average, and maize prices increased roughly 36%, whereas fodder barley prices went up 19.5%.

For instance, milk producers lose HRK 1.02 per litre due to the crisis.

The researchers warn against excessive imports of meat and milk at dumping prices, and they propose stringent restrictions on this import.

 They also suggest short-term state support schemes.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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