ZAGREB, November 12, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 3,082 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 32 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 16,348, there are 1,598 COVID patients in hospitals, and 178 of them are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first coronavirus infection, a total of 75,922 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 925 of them have died, and 58,649 have recovered, including 2,215 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 35,690 people in self-isolation.

To date, 592,326 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 10,156 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, Nov 11, 2020 - Police have brought charges against the 27-year-old organizer and leader of the Anti-COVID protest rally that called for the dissolution of the national COVID-19 crisis response team for failing to ensure law and order and violating epidemiological rules.

They said that the 27-year-old man had not taken measures to ensure law and order, which resulted in the violation of measures introduced by the crisis response team, namely those related to keeping a safe distance and using protective face masks when that is not possible. In addition, the man did not warn protesters or stop the rally when he saw that they were not adhering to the measures in place.

Police said that the 27-year-old man had been informed about his duties as the organizer and leader of a public gathering when he reported the protest rally, and he had been warned to adhere to all epidemiological measures.

They added that the City of Zagreb's crisis response team had sent the instructions to the organizer of the  Anti-COVID protest rally.

Citizens dissatisfied with the work of the national coronavirus response team gathered at Zagreb's Central Railway Station on Sunday and walked towards the main square Trg Bana Jelacica where a dozen speakers addressed the demonstrators.

During their march, they did not adhere to epidemiological measures, such as keeping a safe distance or wearing protective masks.

Demonstrators carried banners with different messages, including those reading: "How dangerous is a virus if you need a test to know you have it?" and "This is not a matter of virus, but a matter of control."

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

ZAGREB, Nov 11, 2020 - The European Commission approved a contract with German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer on Wednesday, guaranteeing that the EU would receive 200 million doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccine and an additional 100 million dozes upon its verification.

Pfizer & BioNTech Group reported on Monday that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

This prompted EC President  Ursula von der Leyen to tweet on Monday afternoon that the Commission would soon sign a contract with the Pfizer and BioNTech pharmaceutical groups for the procurement of 300 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

Following news that a COVID-19 vaccine would be available soon, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday evening that "Croatia will get a verified and certified coronavirus vaccine as soon as the EU gets it."

The agreement which the EC today signed with Pfizer & BioNTech Group is the fourth contract which the EC has signed on behalf of the European Union member states.

Von der Leyen was quoted as saying today: "In the wake of Monday's promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I'm very happy to announce today's agreement with the European company BioNTech and Pfizer to purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine. With this fourth contract we are now consolidating an extremely solid vaccine candidate portfolio, most of them in the advanced trials phase. Once authorized, they will be quickly deployed and bring us closer to a sustainable solution of the pandemic."

Capak: COVID-19 vaccines booked for more than half of Croatia's population

"Croatia is making serious preparations for inoculating the population against coronavirus, and we have booked the doses of vaccines for more than 50% of our population," the head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said on Wednesday.

He added that Croatia had previously concluded an agreement with AstraZeneca for 2.7 million doses.

Capak said he expected the first supplies to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021.

Croatia has also ordered 900,000 doses from Johnson&Johnson and concluded a contract with Pfizer for their vaccine.

"We have ordered a million doses, however, we do not know how the EU will distribute vaccines and how many doses will be given to us," Capak told a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.

Vaccination against COVID-19 will be voluntary, and administering doses to vulnerable groups of citizens and to strategic groups of citizens will be free of charge, he said

Citizens aged above 65, patients with underlying conditions, medical professionals and workers in the welfare sector will have a priority in the inoculation schedule.

Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 2,597 new cases of coronavirus infection and 28 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 15,513, there are 1,545 COVID patients in hospitals, and 178 of them are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first coronavirus infection, a total of 72,840 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 893 of them have died, and 56,434 have recovered, including 1,580 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 32,225 people in self-isolation.

To date, 582,170 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 9,681 in the last 24 hours.

 Capak said that currently, the number of new cases was rising at a weekly rate of four or five percent, after a jump of 80% to 110% on the week.

The percentage of coronavirus tests that have returned positive is 28%. The incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 772 over 14 days, which places Croatia among EU countries with the highest incidence rates.

The mortality rate per million inhabitants is 208, which puts Croatia in the middle of the EU ranking.

ZAGREB, Nov 11, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 2,597 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 28 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 15,513, there are 1,545 COVID patients in hospitals, and 178 of them are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first coronavirus infection, a total of 72,840 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 893 of them have died, and 56,434 have recovered, including 1,580 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 32,225 people in self-isolation.

To date, 582,170 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 9,681 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, November 9, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,529 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 38 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Monday.

The number of active cases stands at 14,942. There are 1,451 COVID patients in hospitals, and 142 of them are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia reported its first case of the infection, a total of 68,776 people have contracted coronavirus, 832 of them have died, and 53,002 have recovered, including 2,227 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 28,122 people are in self-isolation.

To date, 564,686 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 5,670 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, November 8, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said after meeting with the national coronavirus response team on Sunday that the epidemiological measures in place would be extended and additional ones would be considered.

"The response team have announced that they will be extending all the existing measures as of tomorrow. They are considering possible additional measures in consultation with the minister of science and education regarding online classes at universities and the possibility of working from home," Plenkovic told the press after the meeting.

He said that the national response team would hold press conferences three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting from Monday at 11 am.

The prime minister warned that the situation was still serious, but that the healthcare system was capable of withstanding the pressure of the epidemic.

ZAGREB, November 7, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, of 8,624 tests conducted for coronavirus, 28% of them, that is 2,399 have returned positive, Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Saturday.

There have been 35 COVID-related fatalities, a new single-day record, and the death toll stands now at 752. On Friday, there were 34 COVID-related deaths.

Currently, there are 15,542 active cases, including 1,330 patients who are receiving hospital treatment, and 128 of them are placed on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the new virus was first registered in Croatia, 64,704 persons have been infected, and 48,410 have recovered, including 2,389 in the past 24 hours.

Currently 31,642 persons are self-isolating.

To date 550,229 persons have been tested.

ZAGREB, November 6, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that the government's scientific council had assessed that the current measures  were proportionate to the threat of the spread of coronavirus.

"We have ascertained that there is a very clear common denominator that the measures we are taking are appropriate and proportional to the threat that the epidemic currently represents to the health of our citizens," Plenkovic told reporters after a meeting of the scientific council in the government.

He underscored that if necessary, the council would recommend further measures while the National Civil Protection Authority, that is the COVID-19 crisis management team, would ramp up the current measures.

Council's common stance: No lockdown or curfew

Plenkovic said that it was the common stance both of the government and the scientific council that a complete lockdown will not be introduced nor a curfew, reiterating that that "was never on the cards."

"We assessed that the overall fight against Covid-19 until now was good. It is good that we can see that the dynamics of the infection over the past few days has decreased significantly compared to the preceding weeks," said Plenkovic.

Asked whether anyone in the scientific council had suggested more stringent measures, the prime minister said that a margin existed to further sharpen measures and that the government was open to anything that could slow down the spread rate 0f COVID-19.

In response to reporters' claims that oncology patients in some hospitals will not be receiving their medication due to the debt to drug wholesalers, Plenkovic said that the budget revision is in the parliament and as soon as it is adopted certain funds will be paid to wholesalers but also that he has instructed Health Minister Vili Beros to investigate the situation.

"He has been in contact with the relevant health institutions today. I don't believe that that will be reflected in the broader context. If a shortage of a certain medication has occurred, I think that is more an exception than the rule in the health system," he said.

Referring to claims that numerous doctors are sending dramatic messages and that the health system seems on the verge of caving in to the epidemic pressure, the prime minister said that Minister Beros was talking with doctors right at this moment and that everything was being done to improve the quality and preparedness of the entire health system.

"The thing that is good and we spoke about that - is that a series of professions within the public healthcare system will additionally be engaged with a strong motivation to care for the health and welfare of our citizens," added Plenkovic.

ZAGREB, November 6, 2020 - Croatian scientist Ivica Djikic has responded to Croatian Public Health Institute head Krunoslav Capak's claim that Djikic's estimate that about 1,500 people will die of COVID-19 by the end of November is exaggerated, noting that his estimates are based on facts and calling for additional measures.

"What is your estimate of the number of fatalities by the end of November - is it 1,000 or 1,300?" Djakic asked Capak on Friday, stressing that his estimate about 1,500 fatalities was based on data.

In the February-June period 108 people in Croatia died of COVID-19, in the July-November period the number of fatalities was 575, which together gives 683 fatalities, he said.

The reason why the number of fatalities increased 5.3 times are the measures that were applied, Djikic said, noting that the number of fatalities would continue to grow in November if measures to curb the growth of new infections were not adopted.

According to estimates, the average number of deaths per day in November is 32, times 31 days plus 546 fatalities by November, which by the end of the month will result in 1,538 deaths, Djikic said.

"I am calling on you to introduce additional efficient measures as of Monday, not a full lockdown, not a curfew, because you have a whole set of other available measures, so as to reduce the mortality rate," Djikic said, calling on Capak to listen to appeals by six professional associations, bringing together different experts, from physicians to epidemiologists, who have requested fast action and appropriate measures as well.

He points to an estimate by the World Health Organisation under which the wearing of face masks and strict control of gatherings can help save more than 261,000 lives in Europe by February 2021.

Djikic notes that during the summer he called on Capak and the government to provide additional capacity for antigen testing, to which they turned a deaf ear.

"A few weeks ago you even said publicly that fast antigen tests are not good enough for Croatia. Now you are saying the opposite," Djikic said, noting that he could accept Capak's having changed his mind but that he was not sure fast antigen testing could be introduced in a professional and useful way.

As for the planned antigen testing, Djikic said he was not certain that the approximately 37,500 tests the government planned to purchase would be sufficient if one wished to test around 10,000 or more people daily at the current stage of the epidemic.

The reason of Croatia's success in the spring stage of the epidemic was the timely adoption of restrictions and compliance by citizens, Djikic said, adding that he was confident the same could be achieved now if one relied on expert data and stopped confusing the public with incorrect statements.

ZAGREB, November 6, 2020 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia registered a record 2,890 new coronavirus cases and 34 deaths, the national COVID response team said on Friday.

The number of active cases is 15,567, including 1,307 hospitalised patients, of whom 135 are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the new virus was first registered in Croatia, 62,305 persons have been infected, of whom 717 have died and 46,021 recovered, including 2,645 in the past 24 hours.

Currently 33,467 persons are self-isolating.

To date 541,605 persons have been tested, including 9,317 in the past 24 hours.