ZAGREB, Dec 21, 2020 - Assistant Interior Minister Damir Trut, who is at the helm of of Croatia's civil protection system, told the Croatian Radio (HR) on Monday morning that the system for issuing e-passes for travel between counties was ready.

The ban on travel between counties goes into force on 23 December, as one of the latest anti-COVID measures. However, e-passes can be requested for justified reasons such as  commuting to work.

Trut called on Croatians to adhere to the anti-epidemic rules, including the celebration of Christmas and New Year at home.

The new restrictions which are in place from 23 December to 8 January envisage that no more than 10 people from maximum two households are allowed at private gatherings during the holiday season.

ZAGREB, Dec 18, 2020 - Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said on Friday the e-passes system would be ready for use as of December 21, two days before a ban on leaving one's place of residence goes into force.

"The decision will be published today, with justified reasons for being able to leave one's permanent or temporary residence. The reasons need to be entered into the app," he said, adding that the alignment of the app and the new decision would take a few days.

Malenica said he was confident the ban on leaving one's place of residence would have a positive effect.

During the spring lockdown, he said, "we issued over two million passes but there were no more than 750,000 at any given moment." Then, the passes for mobility within the country were mainly issued for business reasons, he added.

Given the reduced economic activity at the end of the year, the number of passes issued is expected to be smaller, he said.