ZAGREB, 1 Feb 2022 - Roughly a hundred people on Tuesday gathered in front of the headquarters of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) in Zagreb to protest against COVID-19 protocols and testing in schools, and an estimated 60 people protested in Split.

Similar protests with just a score of protesters were registered in Zadar and Rijeka.

During the rally in Zagreb, protesters carried banners with the messages "Stop Terror against Children!", "No to COVID passes!", "Stop to Uniformity!", and the most vocal protesters criticised politicians, epidemiologists, educational workers and journalists.

The entrance to the HZJZ headquarters was guarded by riot police officers, while the protesters demanded a meeting with the HZJZ leadership to hand in their requests.  At the end of the protest, one of the representatives of the rally was let in the building to hand in their demands.

During the rally, Andrija Klarić, who also led anti-vaxxers' protests in recent months, said that COVID certificates should be abolished as they were useless and he was also against the testing of healthy people, insisting that this would only be an irresponsible loss of money.

Marin Miletić of the parliamentary Opposition Bridge party, and MEP Ivan Vilibor Sinčić of the non-parliamentary Human Shield party called via Facebook on opponents to the COVID certificate to hold rallies. 

A Religion teacher, Ivan Pokupec, told the Zagreb rally that not enough protesters had gathered, adding that the opponents should continue fighting for their cause in a silent manner until more protesters could turn out at rallies.

In Split, about 60 opponents rallied outside the county headquarters to criticise the plan for weekly testing of school children for coronavirus.

They declined to give statements to the press and some of them only expressed anger at media outlets.

HZJZ: Protests against COVID rules just put pressure on health workers

Ahead of protests against COVID rules, officials from the HZJZ said this morning that the protestors are just feigning care for the health of children and are in fact just putting pressure on health care workers.

"These undeclared organisers are just feigning care for children and their health and in fact are just using them as an instrument to achieve some other objectives they consider to be important," officials from the HZJZ said.

HZJZ said that the protests, which have been announced via social media by the "Free together" group, would just put pressure on healthcare workers and epidemiologists who have been doing their job in the best of faith for the last two years, adding that their recommendations are based on scientific evidence of the need for vaccination against coronavirus, in particular of the elderly.

“Protests, swearing, threats and everything else associated with that will not resolve the problems we have all been faced with during this epidemic," HZJZ officials said.

ZAGREB, 1 Feb 2022 - Ahead of protests against COVID rules to be held on Tuesday outside public health institutes around the country, officials from the national institute have said the protestors are just feigning care for the health of children and are in fact just putting pressure on health care workers.

"These undeclared organisers are just feigning care for children and their health and in fact are just using them as an instrument to achieve some other objectives they consider to be important," officials from the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) said.

HZJZ said that the protests, which have been announced via social media by the "Free together" group, would just put pressure on healthcare workers and epidemiologists who have been doing their job in the best of faith for the last two years, adding that their recommendations are based on scientific evidence of the need for vaccination against coronavirus, in particular of the elderly.

“Protests, swearing, threats and everything else associated with that will not resolve the problems we have all been faced with during this epidemic," the HZJZ officials said.

ZAGREB, 1 Feb 2022 - The Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) on Monday issued revised protocols for persons infected with COVID-19 and their close contacts, shortening the period of quarantine to seven days for all close contacts and not just persons who have been vaccinated and have recovered from the infection.

Exceptions from the rule on quarantine remain the same as in the previous protocols, the HZJZ said in a summary of the new protocols, published on its website. 

Persons with an asymptomatic infection may end their isolation if on the fifth day at the earliest they test negative on a rapid antigen test, as may patients with mild and moderate symptoms after at least five days, on the condition they test negative on a rapid antigen test on the fifth day at the earliest, their temperature is not elevated and they have significantly reduced symptoms.

Without a rapid antigen test, isolation lasts ten days for persons who have not been vaccinated and have not contracted the infection earlier, while for those who have been vaccinated and have recovered from COVID-19 isolation lasts seven days without a test. To end isolation without a test, a patient must not have an elevated body temperature for at least 24 hours, as against the previous rule of a minimum three days.

If the patient and their close contacts share the same household where they do not have the possibility of isolating the patient, household contacts have to quarantine for seven days after the patient meets the conditions for the completion of isolation.

A person with an asymptomatic infection may end their isolation five days at the earliest after testing positive, if they test negative using a rapid antigen test done on the fifth day of isolation at the earliest. After that, they have to wear a mask for the next five days when in contact with other persons, limit contact with persons at risk of a serious disease and comply with other epidemiological rules.

If the rapid antigen test done on the fifth day since the start of isolation at the earliest is positive, the person concerned can end isolation after seven days if they have been vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19, or after ten days if they have not been vaccinated and have not recovered, without having to test again.

ZAGREB, 31 January, 2022 - Five samples tested in Croatia have turned out to be positive for the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the Croatian Institute of Public Health confirmed on Monday.

This subvariant has been confirmed in 40 countries, including neighbouring Slovenia.

British scientists have been monitoring it after it was detected in more than 400 cases in the United Kingdom in the first ten days of January.

International data suggests that the BA.2 subvariant might be spreading faster that the Omicron variant, while no differences in severity have been observed.

"Very early observations from India and Denmark suggest there is no dramatic difference in severity compared to BA.1. This data should become more solid (one way or another) in the coming weeks," Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, said on his Twitter account earlier this month.

He said that the new subvariant was not expected to diminish the effectiveness of the existing COVID-19 vaccines.

ZAGREB, 31 January, 2022 - In the past 24 hours 1,445 coronavirus cases and 50 related deaths have been confirmed in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Monday.

The smaller number of new infections is typical of the beginning of the week because fewer tests are conducted on Sundays.

There are 2,085 hospitalised patients, including 184 on ventilators, while 32,252 persons are self-isolating.

There are currently 54,650 active cases.

So far 4,231,371 people have been tested, including 3,809 in the last 24 hours.

Since the start of the epidemic in March 2020, 937,167 persons have been infected, and of them, 13,827 have died.

To date, 56.53% of the population has been vaccinated, including 67.27% of adults, of whom 64.82% fully.

ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - Opposition Bridge party leader Božo Petrov said on Saturday the government would do anything to avoid a referendum on the constitutionality of COVID certificates, noting that it was not clear to him why the government was afraid of "its people" and its opinion.

"400,000 people gave their signatures in impossible conditions and a clear message was sent to the government and the Constitutional Court that they should not play with the people's will and that they should let the referendum happen. If they intend to stall, it will backfire on them, because this time people will not forget it," Petrov told reporters in Pazin, where a branch of the Bridge party was established.

Commenting on President Zoran Milanović's statement of Friday that the incumbent government was the most corrupt government Croatia has ever had and that the prime minister is protecting his corrupt associates, Petrov said that it was a fact the government had not done anything to rid the state of corruption.

"It is a fact that they opted to keep the Attorney General who was recently found to have protected a corrupt government minister and who shelved her case without having either dismissed or opened it. It literally took a European prosecutor to show what has to be done," Petrov said, adding that "the state does not work in people's interest."

He noted that topics other than the relationship between the president and the prime minister were much more important at present.

"Inflation, a serious price growth, 20% of people are on the brink of poverty. Given the coronavirus crisis and inflation, the situation can only get worse and I would like the president and the prime minister to deal with that," Petrov said, pointing to lack of any progress in the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb and Sisak-Moslavina County.

After 62 opposition MPs collected signatures for a motion to have Construction Minister Darko Horvat replaced, Petrov said that it was only normal the ruling HDZ party, which holds the majority in the parliament, would reject the motion but that that did not mean that its decision was right.

"I would be ashamed if I had to defend the minister in the parliament, even if he were my brother, I would tell him not to embarrass himself and to step down," he said.

ZAGREB, 22 Jan 2022 - Immunologist Zlatko Trobonjača, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka, said on Friday that although the Omicron variant of the virus seemed to cause milder symptoms of COVID-19 than previous variants, it was still to early to relax anti-epidemic restrictions.

Calling for caution, the doctor said in his interview with the national broadcaster (HTV), that there had been nearly 17,000 new daily cases of the infection on Friday, while the hospital admission numbers had fallen to some extent.

He explained that the new variant mostly infects the upper respiratory tract and therefore it spreads faster, while, on the other side, it seems to be causing milder symptoms of the disease.

Trobonjača went on to say that the Omicron epidemic has been lasting just about 20 days, and that it is a short period to make conclusions whether this variant of the virus is not dangerous.

We must wait for some time and see what consequences the spread of the Omicron can produce for health, before giving a thought to the relaxation of the restrictions, the professor said.

The level of the collective immunity which is being acquired through vaccination, immunisation and also through recovery from the disease will put an end to this virus eventually, he said.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 4 Jan 2021 - Croatia has registered 5,845 new coronavirus cases and 46 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Tuesday.

The number of active cases in the country currently stands at 28,889. Among them are 1,817 infected persons receiving hospital treatment, including 233 who are on ventilators, and 16,715 persons who are self-isolating.

To date, 4,745,870 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, with 55.71 percent of the total population, or 66.37 percent of the adult population, having been vaccinated. A total of 2,260,882 people have received at least one dose and 2,146,134 of them have been fully vaccinated, which is 63.16 percent of the adult population.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 3 Jan 2022 - In the last 24 hours 1,103 coronavirus cases, out of 4,577 tests, and 44 related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Monday.

There are 27,512 active cases, including 1,795 hospitalized patients, of whom 239 are on ventilators, while 16,284 persons are self-isolating.

In the last 24 hours the share of positive tests was 24%.

Croatia has registered 722,054 coronavirus cases to date, including 12,653 deaths and 683,889 recoveries, of which 3,091 in the past 24 hours.

To date, 55.68% of the population has been vaccinated, including 66.34% of adults, of whom 63.06% fully.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 1 Jan 2021 - Several Croatian cities, including the capital city of Zagreb, held New Year Eve parties in their main squares on Friday night, while a majority of big towns scrapped plans for outdoor celebrations for 2022 amid a rising number of new cases of the infection with coronavirus.

The fear of a surge in new cases due to the appearance of the Omicron variant limited the festivities that ushered in the new 2022.

The open-air New Year celebrations in Zagreb, Osijek, and Dubrovnik were held in line with COVID protocols, and guests attending the concerts in the squares of those cities were required to have COVID certificates.

Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević joined the revelers in the Trg Bana Jelačića Square on late Friday night and before that he visited the Kosnica shelter for the homeless and firefighters on duty.

In Osijek and Dubrovnik, the mayors also held a toast to welcome the 2022 year.

The entertainment programs featured local pop and folk bands. There were also firework displays.

The traditional farewell parties for the outgoing 2021 year were held in the town of Fužine in the hinterland of Rijeka and some other cities at noon on Friday.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.