ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Croatia has a 26% weekly increase in the number of new coronavirus infections and most epidemiological restrictions will be extended until the end of March but outdoor sports competitions will be allowed, the national COVID-19 response team said on Friday.

Most existing epidemiological restrictions will remain in force.

One of the changes is that it will be possible to change the maximum allowed number of attendees at cultural events through recommendations by the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ), without waiting for a decision by the national COVID-19 response team, and outdoor sports competitions will be allowed as well, the team's head, Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, said.

Restrictions regarding gatherings, passenger transport, shops' working hours and border crossing will be extended until 31 March and a decision on that will take effect on 13 March, said Božinović.

As for decisions at the local level, restrictions will be extended in Dubrovnik-Neretva County while COVID-19 response teams in counties with a marked increase in the number of new infections will be expected to propose restrictions in line with the local situation.

Share of positive tests 13.8%; Inoculation with AstraZeneca vaccine continues

Croatia today reported 823 new infections of 5,945 tests conducted in the past 24 hours, the percentage of positive tests being 13.8%. The average age of those who have died is 77.5 years and the youngest person was 62, Assistant Health Minister Vera Katalinić-Janković said.

HZJZ head Krunoslav Capak warned that the number of new infections this week was 26% higher than last week.

"Istria County has the lowest incidence, and Dubrovnik-Neretva County the highest. As for the seven-day incidence, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is at the top, however, epidemiologists say that there are no major hot spots there but rather a lot of small hot spots due to socialising," said Capak.

He also pointed to an increase in the share of positive cases in the number of tests done, which today was 13.8%.

Commenting on reported side effects of the vaccines, he said most reports referred to the Pfizer vaccine, 898, followed by AstraZeneca's vaccine, 337, and Moderna's, 81.

Despite the fact that in some EU countries inoculation with AstraZeneca's vaccine has been suspended, Croatia will continue using the vaccine.

Capak said that the AstraZeneca vaccine Croatia obtained was not from the same series as that obtained by Austria and 15 other EU countries. Countries that have discontinued inoculation with that vaccine have done so until the reported side effects are investigated, he said.

"If it is established that the thromboembolisms reported are not related to the vaccine, countries that have suspended vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine will continue the vaccination process. Croatia did not receive that vaccine series... and will continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine," he said.

He also commented on an announcement that the deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be much smaller than agreed.

"We were to receive 19,200 doses in the third week of March and will receive 7,200. In the fourth week of March, we were to receive 79,568 doses and will receive 9,800," he said.

As for the vaccine of the US company Johnson & Johnson, Capak said that the vaccine will soon be registered in the EU but could not tell how many doses Croatia would obtain considering reports that the US government would first supply the US market with the agreed quantities and then start exports to other countries.

Asked about alternative vaccine imports, Capak said that the documentation requested from the Russian producer had still not arrived, which was a precondition to launch emergency imports.

Meanwhile, the Russian manufacturer has launched the process of registration of the vaccine with the European Medicines Agency and Capak said he believed the process would soon be completed and that Croatia would be able to import the vaccine normally.

As for the Chinese vaccine, not much information is known but the HZJZ today held an online meeting with its producers, Capak said, adding that he would inform the public of the meeting on Monday.

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

ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Croatian Public Health Institute director Krunoslav Capak on Friday presented the results of a serological study showing that 25% of 1,436 respondents had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, meaning that they had been in contact with the coronavirus.

A similar study carried out last spring revealed that only 2.2% of 1,088 respondents were positive for COVID-19 antibodies.

"In the first study, 24 out of 1,088 respondents tested positive for immunoglobulin antibodies, which is 2.2%. In the second study, 360 out of 1,436 respondents were positive for immunoglobulins, which is 25.1%," Capak said at a press conference of the national COVID-19 response team.

"It should be noted that the blood samples were taken in late December, in January and an in early February. No major impact of the vaccination could be seen because only a small number of people were vaccinated at the time. The first study covered a smaller number of counties where we took the blood samples, while the second study covered all the counties," he added.

Antibodies were evenly present in all age groups. Their presence was lower in people aged over 70 years and in children aged under 10, whose proportion of positive cases in the study was 19.2%.

The study also showed that 75% of the persons positive for immunoglobulins were immune to COVID-19.

Capak said that this sample was representative and showed that 25% of people had been in contact with the coronavirus.

"There are 240,000 people in Croatia who have been infected with the coronavirus to date, while four times as many have come into contact with the virus, which is a million people," Capak said.

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

ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, 823 people in Croatia have contracted coronavirus and 12 have died, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Friday.

There are currently 4,522 active cases of the infection, 811 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals, and 78 of them are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of the infection was recorded in Croatia, the country has registered 249,661 people infected with coronavirus and 5,647 people have died.

A total of 239,492 people have recovered, including 578 over the past 24 hours.

There are currently 17,012 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,416,328 people have been tested, including 5,945 in the last 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - In the last seven days, new coronavirus infections in Croatia rose by 25% compared to the week before that, and the existing anti-epidemic measures will be extended even after 15 March, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team said at a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The team's chairman, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said that he hoped that the restrictions would not have to be ramped up.

The numbers are growing, however, there are not any particular hotspots, he added.

Croatia's coronavirus update: 962 new cases, 4 deaths, 334 recoveries

In the past 24 hours there were 7,499 coronavirus tests conducted, and 12.8% of them, that is 962, have returned positive. The death toll linked to COVID-19 has increased by four more fatalities to 5,625.

Currently, there are 3,981 active cases, including 807 hospitalised patients 82 of whom are placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the coronavirus infection in the country on 25 February 2020, more than 1.4 million tests have been conducted, and 248,061 of them have turned out positive. To date, 238,455 people have recovered from this infectious disease.

Weekly rise of 25% ascribed to private gatherings

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said that a weekly rise of 25% was mainly due to family and private gatherings.

He added that 429 samples of 1,200 sent from Croatia to the European Centre for Disease Control had to date been sequenced, showing that 123 samples contained the British variant of the novel virus and 115 with the Czech variant. More results are expected next week.

50% of Croatian population may be immune to virus by this summer

A serological research carried out by the HZJZ covering 436 samples of people who caught coronavirus in the second wave of the pandemic has shown that 25% of them, that is one on four, have antibodies, Capak said.

The continuation of inoculation at the predicted rate could enable Croatia to have at least half of its population immune to coronavirus by this summer, according to his estimates.

Health Minister Vili Beroš announced a shipment of another 743,376 doses of COVID vaccines by the end of this month.

He expects the immunisation of one-fifth of the population with the first shot of the two-dose vaccine during this month.

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

ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - In the last 24 hours Croatia has conducted 7,499 coronavirus tests, and of them 12.8%, that is 962, have returned positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Wednesday.

The death toll linked to COVID-19 has risen by four more fatalities to 5,625.

Currently, there are 3,981 active cases, including 807 hospitalised patients of whom 82 are placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the coronavirus infection in the country on 25 February 2020, more than 1.4 million tests have been conducted, and of them, 248,061 have turned out to be positive.

To date, 238,455 people have recovered from this infectious disease.

There are now 14,537 people self-isolating.

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

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Croatia is ready to take in about ten COVID patents from the Czech Republic and Slovakia each, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković tweeted on Tuesday after his telephone conversation with his counterparts Andrej Babiš of Czechia and Igor Matovič of Slovakia.

"I have conveyed Croatia's readiness to hospitalise about ten COVID-19 patients each from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, if necessary, taking into consideration the fact that their respective health systems are under strain," Plenković wrote on his Twitter account.

Croatia is showing its solidarity with EU member-states in the struggle against COVID-19, he underscored.

The Czech Republic, which has been one of the hardest hit countries in the world by the COVID epidemic recently, has asked Germany, Switzerland and Poland to take in dozens of COVID-19 patients as the situation in its own hospitals has reached a critical point.

Slovakia has already transferred some of its patients abroad this week.

Poland and Germany each have said that they can hospitalise ten patients from that country. 

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

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović said on Tuesday that negotiations were underway with pensioner unions and associations about COVID supplements for retirees.

"We've had a few operational meetings and that issue is something that cannot be resolved in such a short time however, I am certain that we are on the right track for an agreement regarding a COVID supplement," said Aladrović, when asked by the press whether the talks reached a standstill.

He announced that talks on that issue would continue at the end of this week and in the coming period.

"I am certain that Croatia can become one of the countries that introduces a COVID supplement but we have to be aware on the other hand of the fiscal limits in our budget," he added.

Aladrović added that he would leave all options open,however, he is certain that good will for an agreement exists and that it is possible.

Asked whether the decision was waiting for the local election, Aladrović said that this is a supplement that is unknown in other European countries and that it cannot be brought into the context of current political circumstances and situations.

Last month during a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, pensioner associations raised the issue of a COVID supplement and asked for just over 800,000 pensioners with a pension allowance of up to HRK 2,710 to be paid a COVID supplement of €150 (HRK 1,125).

They also proposed that about 244,000 pensioners with pension allowances between HRK 2,710 and HRK 5,000 be given a supplement of €100 (HRK 750) and for 7,200 single pensioners who receive a pension allowance of more than HRK 5,000 to be given a supplement of €50 (HRK 375).

The supplement would, according to their calculations, come to HRK1.93 billion.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - The Croatian government on Monday adopted a conclusion authorising Health Minister Vili Beroš to sign an order for the procurement of the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The conclusion was adopted in line with an agreement signed between the European Commission and Pfizer Inc./BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH on 17 February 2021.

The funds for the procurement of the vaccine will be secured by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund.

The EC has so far signed six agreements on the upfront purchase of vaccines against COVID-19 on behalf of EU member states. The February 17 agreement between the EC and Pfizer refers to the purchase of an additional 200 million doses.

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

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, 491 people in Croatia have contracted coronavirus and 12 have died, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday.

There are currently 3,357 active cases of the infection, 785 COVID patients are being treated in hospitals, and 78 of them are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of the infection was recorded in Croatia, the country has registered 247,099 people infected with coronavirus.

A total of 5,621 people have died and 238,121 have recovered, 476 of whom over the past 24 hours.

There are currently 13,687 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,396,129 people have been tested, including 8,183 in the last 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 8 March, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 2,178 coronvairus tests performed in Croatia, 4.3%, that is 94, have returned positive, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team told a news conference in Zagreb on Monday.

Currently, there are 805 COVID patients in hospitals, including 74 placed on respirators.

In the last 24 hours, the health authorities have reported 19 new fatalities linked to COVID, and the death toll stands now at 5,609.