ZAGREB, Dec 12, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, out of 11,114 coronavirus tests performed in Croatia, 4,135, that is 37%, have returned positive, and there have been 78 COVID-related fatalities, bringing the death toll to 2,562, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Saturday.

Currently, there are 25,270 active cases, including 2,792 patients who are receiving hospital treatment, and of them 295 are placed on ventilators.

As many as 63,908 people are self-isolating.Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 172,523 people have caught the novel virus, and so far, 872,515 coronavirus tests have been performed.

To date, 144,691 people have recovered from the infection including 3,793 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - Croatia has registered 4,396 new coronavirus cases and 64 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Friday morning.

A total of 2,802 patients are hospitalised, including 304 who are on ventilators. 

The number of active cases is 25,006 and 62,370 people are currently self-isolating.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 168,388 people have been infected with the novel virus.

The death toll now stands at 2,484. A total of 140,898 people have recovered, including 4,177 in the last 24 hours.

To date, a total of 861,401 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 11,687 in the last 24 hours.

December 9, 2020 – It's been a funny old year. Funny as in unusual. Not so much funny haha. The extraordinary nature of the year is reflected in the most-popular Croatia Google search list for 2020, which has just been published. This year's searches hold a stark contrast to last year's.

In 2019, the end-of-year list for Croatia Google search was dominated by results for sporting fixtures, celebrities and entertainment. Although the EU election results and the long-running teacher's strike in Croatia also scored highly in 2019, this year has been dominated by searches of an even more serious and pressing nature.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the number one Croatia Google search for 2020 was Coronavirus. The global pandemic is likely to top lists all over the world. In this country, its ramifications also created several other high-ranking inclusions on the Croatia Google search list 2020.

Software Google Classroom and Office 365 za škole also feature in the top 10 Croatia Google search list 2020, as parents and students coped with the closure of teaching institutions and prepared to learn and receive lectures online. Another piece of online tech that features in the top 10 was ePropusnica, the travel pass required for inter-regional travel and international travel by car during the various stages of lockdown. If these results are anything to go by, Coronavirus has dominated the lives of Croatians in 2020.

Another big Croatia Google search term in 2020 was Zagreb earthquake. For anyone in Zagreb at the time of the first large tremor, this will also come as little surprise – it was the biggest earthquake experienced for 100 years in Croatia, and it came without warning. Though lasting just a few seconds, there was no reaction more immediate than that of city residents, who ran out into the streets partially clothed. Thousands must have searched the term to find out what was happening, and also after many of the hundreds of aftershocks that have followed.

Here's the list of biggest Croatia Google search terms in 2020

The most-popular Croatia Google search terms in 2020

1. Koronavirus
2. Google Classroom
3. Office 365 za škole
4. Potres Zagreb (Earthquake Zagreb)
5. Kobe Bryant
6. ePropusnica
7. Izbori SAD (US elections)
8. DIP
9. Joe Biden
10. Masoni (Masons)

The most-popular Croatia Google search apps in 2020

1. ePropusnice
2. Zoom
3. Andrija

The most-popular Croatia Google search events in 2020

1. Potres (Earthquake)
2. Izbori SAD (US elections)
3. Izbori (elections) 

Aside from the inclusion of the Masons (freemasons), the list is understandable on an international level. It perhaps tells us something about how Croatians use the search engine and how well they respect it as a source for delivering credible information. With Coronavirus vaccines now announced and, all hope, the biggest potential earthquake out of the way, for now, it's understandable for most Croatians to be looking forward to the return of more trivial matters dominating their Google searches in 2021.

ZAGREB, Dec 9, 2020 - Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa will represent Croatia at Thursday's EU summit, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.

Plenkovic will not attend the summit as his isolation has been extended due to a cough caused by COVID-19.

Speaking at a virtual cabinet meeting, he said he first suggested to President Zoran Milanovic to attend.

"I offered (Milanovic) to go on Croatia's behalf. He appreciated the gesture, thanked me, but given the topics, he assessed that he would not go to Brussels," Plenkovic said, adding that Milanovic agreed with Jansa being authorized to represent Croatia.

The two-day in-person summit will focus on Hungary and Poland's veto on the EU budget and recovery plan, relations with the United States, and the pandemic.

Plenkovic will isolate a few more days at doctors' orders due to a cough. The government said earlier today that he was feeling well and did not have a temperature and that he would continue to work from home. He tested positive for coronavirus on November 30.

At the cabinet meeting, he said it was very important for the decreasing trend of new infections to continue, calling this a still "very demanding task."

"It's important that we all together comply with the measures so that we reduce the dynamic of the epidemic before Christmas."

ZAGREB, Dec 9, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic will self-isolate a few more days due to milder respiratory problems caused by COVID-19 and will not participate in Thursday's EU summit, the government said on Wednesday.

"The prime minister is feeling well and does not have a temperature. During the entire isolation, which began on Saturday, November 28, the prime minister has been working continuously and every day from home, performing all his activities and duties," the government said, adding that self-isolation was extended for a few more days "at doctors' advice."

Plenkovic began to self-isolate after his wife tested positive for coronavirus. He tested positive two days later.

According to available information, he will not take part in the EU summit even via video link.

ZAGREB, Dec 9, 2020 - The City of Zagreb has obtained 17,850 rapid antigen tests for its 60 social welfare institutions, the head of the Zagreb department for social policy, Romana Galic, said on Tuesday.

Of those 60 institutions, 41 are old age homes, and the remaining 19 are institutions for providing care to people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups of citizens, Galic said.

She explained that this had been the first batch of the rapid coronavirus tests which should be used in a period of one month, and the Zagreb authorities hope that they will be provided with additional quantities of those tests.

Testing of staff working in retirement homes and beneficiaries is a manner to prevent the spread of this virus in those institutions, she added.

Currently, there are 196 beneficiaries from 11 old-care homes in Zagreb who are positive for coronavirus. Of them, 22 are receiving hospital treatment, about 50 beneficiaries, who have contracted the virus, are without symptoms and others are with mild symptoms of the COVID-19 disease.

Also, currently, 75 employees from Zagreb's old-age homes are positive for the virus, and an additional 38 are self-isolating.

Galic said that about 75% of beneficiaries in Zagreb's social welfare institutions have said that they are willing to undergo testing, while 36% of the staff have expressed readiness. Also, a marked portion of the staff have recovered from the infection, she said.

ZAGREB, Dec 9, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, out of 12,596 tests performed for coronavirus, 4,520 (36%) have returned positive in Croatia, and 69 people have died of the complications linked to the COVID-19 disease, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Wednesday.

There are now 23,750 active cases, and of the 2,703 are receiving hospital treatment, including 280 patients placed on ventilators, or 23 more than on Tuesday, according to a tally kept by the crisis management team.

Croatia's COVID-related death toll stands at 2,367.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 159,372 people have been infected with the novel virus. A total of  837,619 people have been tested to date. More than 131,000 have recovered.

Currently, 57835 people are in self-isolation.

ZAGREB, Dec 7, 2020 - The government adopted four decisions on Friday under which public health and social welfare workers catering for COVID patients would be given a bonus in the amount of 10% of their monthly basic pay.

Army medical staff and prison staff looking after COVID patients are also entitled to this bonus.

Health Minister Vili Beros said that medical professionals currently reassigned to COVID hospitals would be given a monthly salary in the amount of their average monthly take-home pay in the last three months before their reassignment to COVID hospitals if that amount is more favourable for them.

This refers to the salaries already paid for November.

The workers concerned have been offered this option after the Croatian Medical Chamber (HLK) warned that some of the doctors reassigned to COVID-19 hospitals received lower monthly pay for November than what they used to be paid before their reassignment.

The HLK has been informed that the November salary for some of the doctors who are treating COVID-19 patients was considerably lower than their take-home pay before they started working with this category of patients. In some cases this reduction was 20%.

The HLK dismissed the "bureaucratic explanation" about them having worked fewer working hours in November, as it has been made clear that the protective gear necessary for doctors working with COVID patients makes it impossible for them to work the full hours specified for that month.

ZAGREB, Dec 7, 2020 - Face masks will be compulsory also for persons who have recovered from COVID-19 since it is still not known how newly-acquired immunity affects transmission, and masks will continue to be compulsory also after vaccination, Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) head Krunoslav Capak said on Monday.

"If the virus settles in a mucous membrane, there is no evidence as to whether immune persons can transmit the disease, and that is why those who have recovered from the infection should wear masks as well. That will remain so also after the vaccination," Capak said at a news conference held by the national COVID-19 response team.

He said that Croatia still had a high incidence rate, with 1,154 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, and that Luxembourg was the only other EU country with a higher incidence.

As for the mortality rate, Croatia is 14th in the EU, with 515 fatalities per one million inhabitants.

The share of positive cases among tested persons in the last 14 days has been 35.6%, with Bulgaria and Poland having higher rates.

In the past 24 hours, there have been 1,886 new infections and 59 fatalities.

A total of 2,629 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals, including 277 who are on ventilators, which is 40 more than on Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, 254 people have been hospitalised and 133 have been released.

The number of active cases stands at 22,124.

The death toll is 2,231.

Currently 52,764 people are self-isolating.

So far 816,241 people have been tested for the novel virus, of whom 5,356 have been tested in the last 24 hours.

Capak said that 136,000 fast antigen tests had been procured, of which 80,000 would be distributed among retirement homes to test 40,000 residents and staff members. The rest will be distributed among emergency medical services for fast diagnostics.

Health Minister Vili Beros said that telemedical centres would be set up in all COVID-19 facilities to establish expert cooperation between all institutions treating COVID-19 patients. The central facility will be Zagreb's Hospital for Infectious Diseases and the goal of the project is to harmonise practice in the application of new information on coronavirus in the treatment of patients.

The head of the national COVID-19 response team, Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, said that in the last 24 hours civil protection inspectors had carried out 2,442 inspections of businesses and public gatherings, issuing 544 warnings and a fine in the amount of HRK 30,000.

"A total of 1,778 checks have been carried out as well, 265 irregularities have been established and 92 reports have been made that will be submitted to the relevant institutions to decide on possible launching of misdemeanor proceedings. A total of 8,743 facilities have been checked and violation of epidemiological restrictions has been found in seven," he said, noting that 63 people had been found to have violated self-isolation rules and that three criminal reports would be filed.

Commenting on an appeal by scientists that was signed over the weekend by half of the government's scientific council, Bozinovic said that some of their recommendations had already been translated into decisions and restrictions introduced by the national COVID-19 response team as well as that measures would continue to be adopted.

"We are having discussions with representatives of the retail sector in order to limit the number of customers who can be in a shop at the same time. As for schools, (Education) Minister (Radovan) Fuchs will discuss possible corrections of initial plans with county heads today. We have already said on several occasions that all decisions are made based on the epidemiological situation, after we establish that the previous ones have either not helped reduce the number of infections or that certain increases have been identified," he said.

Commenting on the scientists' appeal, in which they presented their recommendations to deal with the current health and social crisis in the country, the head of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic, said that opinions were different but that communication was ongoing.

"We have been in touch with our colleagues abroad and have been communicating and exchanging experience with them on a daily basis. It is important to ask questions and seek solutions," she said.

ZAGREB, Dec 7, 2020 - A total of 1,886 new coronavirus cases and 59 infection-related deaths have been confirmed in Croatia in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Monday.

A total of 2,629 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals, including 277 who are on ventilators, which is 40 more than on Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, 254 people have been hospitalised and 133 have been released.

Currently 52,764 people are self-isolating.

So far 816,241 people have been tested for the novel virus, of whom 5,356 have been tested in the last 24 hours.

Since February 25, when the first case of the infection was confirmed in the country, 152,239 people have been infected with the virus, of whom 127,882 have recovered, including 3,443 in the last 24 hours.

The number of active cases stands at 22,124.