May the 30th, 2021 - The much talked about digital Croatian coronavirus documents are set to be made available as planned, as of the 1st of June, 2021, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic stated.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, here in Croatia, vaccination against the novel coronavirus is still being carried out with increased intensity, so far almost 1.7 million doses have been administered and more than 1.2 million people or 36.9 percent of the adult population living in Croatia have been vaccinated, Health Minister Vili Beros reported on Thursday.

"This is very encouraging data that gives us reasons for optimism in meeting our goal, which is to vaccinate more than 50 percent of adult residents in Croatia by the end of June," Beros said at a recent government session.

The number of new infections is also continuing to decline, when compared to the week before, Croatia recorded a drop in newly infected people of 42 percent. Bed occupancy for coronavirus patients in hospitals fell by more than 11 percent in just one single week. The epidemiological situation is getting better week by week due to the vaccination rollout going according to plan,'' the minister added.

He announced that due to the favourable epidemiological situation, the further reduction of capacity is expected in KB Dubrava, and part of the medical staff redeployed to that hospital will now return to their own respective healthcare institutions.

Interior Minister and head of the National Civil Protection Directorate Davor Bozinovic reported that new measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus have been adopted at the national level, which came into force today and are being implemented until June the 15th, 2021.

Since the last government session, the Civil Protection Directorate has made five decisions, four at the national level and one at the suggestion of the Istria County Directorate, which included the suspension of workshops, children's playrooms and indoor entertainment and recreation.

Minister Davor Bozinovic also said that the Croatian national system for issuing the EU Digital Covid Certificate, also referred to as Croatian coronavirus documents, was all ready for June the 1st, and that integration with the EU on this topic had been successfully carried out.

Currently, the ''Covid certificates'' issued by Italy, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Lithuania, Romania and Cyprus have been validated.

Everything on that topic has been included in the national border information system, and here in Croatia, Croatian coronavirus documents can be obtained through the eCitizen (eGradjani) portal and via numerous HZZO branches.

Otherwise, inspectors performed more than 20,000 inspections and as many as 201 measures of self-isolation violations were determined.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

May 14, 2021 - The first post-Covid pilot party in Croatia took place in Zagreb at the Rooftop Lateral restaurant.

Last night, the first pilot project of a private business event in Zagreb was held, reports HRTurizam.

This is the first event in Croatia, which aims to prove that the event is safe and, in fact, represents a step towards the old normal. About ninety guests gathered to participate in this kind of research. The initiator of the project is the Independent Association of Caterers, with the great support of the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters and the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

The President of the Association, Žakline Troskot, points out that the project has been prepared since March this year and they are very proud that their idea has been realized. All participants have been vaccinated twice, and after a week, they will undergo testing. "If the results are favorable, catering will return to normal soon, as well as other related industries, which have suffered great losses since some of them have been closed for 15 months," said Troskot.

Matija Habljak / PIXSELL

Croatian Institute of Public Health epidemiologist, Ph.D. Dijana Mayer emphasized the importance of vaccination because a large percentage of vaccinated citizens will greatly simplify life and enable events to take place and much greater mobility of people.

Epidemiological constraints have made life difficult for many, and a particularly vulnerable group is the hospitality industry. The decline in turnover in the hospitality industry in the first four months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019 is 55.5%.

The event industry has been declining by 90% since the beginning of the pandemic. Last year alone, more than 100 festivals were canceled, attracting about a million visitors from all over the world to Croatia every year. Namely, according to Unison's research, this industry accounts for 6.3% of Croatia's GDP and employs about 17,000 people. Only 50-60% of companies and employees involved in events until the pandemic will remain.

Matija Habljak / PIXSELL

Many newlyweds dream of lavish weddings with live music, which they have not been able to hold in the last 15 months. Provisional statistics from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that the restriction of gatherings has greatly affected the holding of wedding ceremonies.

Often unpredictable circumstances in 2020 influenced couples and their decision to hold wedding ceremonies and, in general, enter into a marital union. Data for all 12 months show that in 2020 the total number of marriages decreased by 22.9% compared to the previous year, i.e., 4,972 fewer marriages were concluded. In Croatia, we have more than 300 catering houses and about as many wedding halls. The sector employs more than 12 thousand people, which makes this figure twice as high when we consider the whole range of related activities involved in organizing a wedding, from planners, decorators, florists, musicians, photographers, and others.

On Saturday, the second pilot project will be held in Zagreb's Riverside Golf Club - a simulation of a wedding ceremony with a live performance by a band, which is expected to have more than 100 participants. Unlike the first, three groups of guests are participating in Saturday's event - vaccinated, tested (the day before at the CNIPH), and people who have already recovered from COVID-19.

Like the first group, the guests from the wedding ceremony will be tested a week after the event. The favorable outcome of both tests will certainly be a step towards the old normal and the possibility of opening catering and other industries while respecting certain conditions defined by the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia.

Minister of Health Vili Beroš reported on Thursday at the 57th session of the Government of the Republic of Croatia that almost 29 percent of the adult population has been vaccinated with one dose and eight percent with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

A total of 1,571,650 doses of vaccine have arrived in Croatia so far, and more than 1,230,000 doses have been consumed since the beginning of vaccination, said Beroš, adding: “We are recording a promising trend of fewer newly infected people."

Deputy Prime Minister Božinović announced a possible easing of epidemiological measures as of June 1.

"Given that the number of coronavirus patients has been declining in recent days, appropriate preparations are being made for a possible easing of epidemiological measures from June 1, so pilot projects of various events will be implemented in the coming days," Božinović said.

One week after the events, participants will be tested by PCR tests at the CNIPH, and if it turns out that there was no transmission of the infection, ways to relax measures for such events will be considered, Božinović said.

Božinović reported that Croatia was the first member of the European Union to successfully conduct a pilot test of the digital green certificate system, the so-called Covid passport.

"AKD (Agency for Commercial Activity), which is in charge of developing the technical solution, successfully performed testing with a central digital gateway, and it was confirmed that all key components of the Croatian system are functional and ready to start issuing certificates announced for early June," he said. Božinović added that the system successfully generates QR codes for all three types of certificates - on vaccination, testing, and recovery, and the exchange of public keys with other member states through the EU accession, since an application was made to verify certificates of other countries.

The government's working group will define business rules for issuing certificates to citizens, harmonize the visual identity of certificates with EU requirements, prepare communication and information materials, and other technical matters regarding the application of certificates, Božinović added.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

April 9, 2021 - A working group is being set up to develop a technical solution for cross-border interoperable digital green certificates in Croatia.

"Vaccination of employees in the tourism sector begins with the third phase of vaccination. I believe it will be very soon," said the Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac, adding that based on data received so far in the proposed surveys, the number of employees who would enter priority vaccination in the tourism sector is about 68,000, reports HRTurizam.

"Given the nature of the work as well as the significant number of contacts that tourism workers make, it is necessary to vaccinate before the start of the season," said Brnjac.

A working group is being set up to develop a technical solution for cross-border interoperable digital green certificates in line with EU-level talks.

At Thursday's 52nd Government session, the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) proposed a Decision to establish a working group to develop a technical solution for cross-border interoperable digital green certificates.

"We will soon start creating a digital system of certificates of vaccination, testing, and recovery to enable citizens of the Republic of Croatia and the EU free and epidemiologically safe cross-border mobility and residence in our country," said Davor Bozinovic, Minister of the Interior.

Namely, the European Commission coordinates a common European response to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. Following the development of the epidemiological situation and health and medical measures, it is necessary to develop other effective measures to combat COVID-19 and enable free movement in EU member states and third countries or green digital certificates, so-called 'covid passports'.

Therefore, they have recognized the need to ensure freedom of cross-border movement through establishing a system for issuing, verifying, and accepting vaccination, testing, and recovery certificates to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic (digital green certificate) that would be interoperable between the EU Member States and third countries.

To this end, on 17 March 2021, the European Commission presented a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a framework for issuing, verifying, and accepting cross-border interoperable vaccination, testing, and recovery certificates to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic (digital green certificate). 

Croatia has expressed readiness to establish a national system of digital green certificates and their cross-border interoperability through the EU accession plan that the European Commission plans to establish in April, May, and June 2021, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

To establish a technical solution and to develop a national system of digital green certificates, the Ministry of the Interior is tasked with concluding a contract with AKD d.o.o. (Agency for commercial activity production, service, and trade d.o.o.), since AKD was established to perform the tasks of creating personal ID cards, passports, visas, driver's licenses and other solutions in the field of identity and security.

The Decision instructs the Ministry of Health to provide the Working Group referred to in this Decision with all necessary professional support, especially in fulfilling the following tasks: representing Croatia in the operational working groups of the European Commission's eHealth Network, which coordinates implementing the pilot project of the technical solution for digital green certificates; ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, availability, and non-repudiation of machine-readable data on vaccinated, tested and sick persons automatically and in real-time, accessible from data sources owned by the Ministry of Health, which will be the basis for issuing cross-border interoperable digital green certificates.

Recall that according to the new and expanded criteria for the entry of tourists into Croatia, tourists who have either been vaccinated, contracted COVID-19, or have a negative PCR or antigen test from the list of EU tests, can enter Croatia.

Follow the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

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