ZAGREB, 7 July, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 141 new cases of coronavirus, while three people have died as a consequence of the infection, the national COVID response team reported on Wednesday.

Currently, there are 596 active cases in the country, including 120 hospitalised patients, 6 of whom are on ventilators, and 3,673 people are in self-isolation.

A total of 2,176,865 tests have been conducted today, including 4,982 in the past 24 hours.

As of 6 July, 2,714,126 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 1,518,820 people having received at least one dose and 1,195,306 having received both shots.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of the contagion was detected in Croatia, there have been 360,483 positive cases of coronavirus, 8,224 people have died and 351,663 have recovered from the infection, including 70 in the last 24 hours.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 6 July, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 5,103 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia,  1.9%, that is 96, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team stated on Tuesday.

Currently, there are 528 active cases, including 132 hospitalised patients, of whom 10 are placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, the COVID-related death toll has risen by two to 8,221.

Since the first registered case of the infection with this novel virus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, as many as 2,171,883 tests have been performed showing that 360,342 people have contracted the virus. Of them, 351,593 have recovered so far, including 65 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

The Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) reported on Tuesday that 37.3% of the total population or 45% of the adult population had been vaccinated to date.

A total of 2,687,515 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to date.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 30 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 136 coronavirus cases and one death have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

There are 496 active cases, including 159 hospitalised patients, 12 of whom are on ventilators, while 3,475 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 359,872 coronavirus cases to date, including 8,206 deaths and 351,170 recoveries, 57 of which in the past 24 hours.

To date, 2,148,554 persons have been tested for the virus, including 4,954 in the past 24 hours, and 2,573,481 vaccines have been administered, with 1,488,707 persons having received one and 1,084,774 both doses.

For more about covid-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 29 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 70 coronavirus cases and three deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday.

There are 418 active cases, including 181 hospitalised patients, 11 of whom are on ventilators, while 3,679 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 359,736 coronavirus cases to date, including 8,205 deaths and 351,113 recoveries, 74 of which in the past 24 hours.

To date, 2,143,600 persons have been tested for the virus, including 5,506 in the past 24 hours, and 2,545,040 vaccines have been administered, with 1,482,581 persons having received one and 1,062,459 both doses.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 23 June, 2021 - Croatia has registered 43 new coronavirus cases and two COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus crisis management team reported on Wednesday.

Currently, there are 517 active cases in the country, including 251 people who are receiving hospital treatment, with 18 of them placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 359,302 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,190 have died and 350,595 have recovered, including 56 in the last 24 hours. Currently, 3,916 people are self-isolating.

A total of 2,119,459 people have been tested for COVID-19 to date, including 1,992 in the last 24 hours.

As of 22 June, 2,389,633 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, with 1,456,750 people receiving at least one dose and 932,833 receiving both doses. A total of 9,975 doses were administered on 22 June, the coronavirus crisis management team said.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 22 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia registered 75 new cases of SARS-CoV-2, and there are currently 532 active cases in the country, while six people died as a consequence, the national COVID response team reported on Tuesday.

There are 253 hospitalised COVID patients and 16 of them are on ventilators.

Since the first case of the novel coronavirus was registered in Croatia in February last year there have been a total of 359,259 people infected with the contagion and 8,188 have died as a consequence while 350,539 have recovered.

There are currently 3,792 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 2,117,467 tests have been conducted and 5,308 of those were conducted in the past 24 hours.

As of 21 June, 2,379,658 doses of vaccines have been administered and so far 1,455,647 people have received at least one dose and 924,011 have received both shots, a press release said.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 16 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has logged 146 new COVID-19 cases after conducting 5,485 tests, and two infected persons have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

Currently, there are 801 active cases in the country, including 349 hospitalised patients, of whom 28 are on ventilators, and 4,774 people are in self-isolation.

To date, there have been a total of 358,823 registered cases of the contagion, 8,162 people have died as a consequence while 349,860 have recovered.

A total of 2,092,201 people have been tested for the virus to date, including 5,485 in the past 24 hours.

As of 15 June, a total of 2,196,552 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 1,427,566 people receiving at least one dose and 768,986 people receiving both vaccine doses.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 16 June, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday at the forum "Human Rights in the Coronavirus Crisis" that encroaching on the intimate space of human freedoms required a decision of the parliament, which he would have let it make if he were prime minister during the crisis.

Milanović said at the forum at the Faculty of Law that "in this crisis, we are not talking about human rights but about fundamental human freedoms."

"My right to breathe, to sneeze, to walk, to move - that is my human freedom. In order to affect that deeply intimate space, it is necessary to have a decision of a representative body," Milanović said.

In his presentation, he referred to Articles 16 and 17 of the Constitution and said that the coronavirus situation had met the conditions for declaring a state of emergency.

"Article 17... refers to a state of emergency, imminent danger of war or a natural disaster. It doesn't matter if this virus, and a virus is a natural fact and attacks a living organism, originated as a fact of zoonosis or was released by the Chinese or escaped from the laboratory, it makes no difference. That is a serious matter. It puts lives in danger. If that doesn't meet the conditions (for declaring a state of emergency), nothing does," Milanović said.

He added that if the coronavirus crisis had happened during his term as prime minister, he would have let the parliament vote in the relevant decisions, which would result in greater public trust, instead of having a COVID-19 response team do it.

Everything we watched for a year and a half was surreal, he added. He praised the fact that the vaccine was produced so quickly, adding that everything else was wrong.

Ombudswoman: Citizens had numerous complaints

According to Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter, during the pandemic citizens had questions and complaints related to passes, self-isolation, access to health care since family doctors were not available to them and their examinations were cancelled, and they also sent questions related to the right to work, that is, to work from home or work in the office.

In the past few months, the ombudswoman has been receiving questions about vaccination and in the past few weeks, about COVID passports.

She also said that the frequent changes in the anti-epidemic measures and vague recommendations had led to an increase in dissatisfaction and fear among citizens, which had further undermined trust in institutions.

The ombudswoman said that there were solutions and that her report for 2020 had been discussed in the parliament, and now she hoped that the recommendations would be implemented.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 June, 2021 - The National Anti-Corruption Council on Tuesday interviewed the dismissed head of the radiology ward of Zagreb's Sisters of Charity Hospital, Dijana Zadravec, who presented her evidence of criminal activities used to siphon money from the hospital.

Zadravec, who has been on sick leave since May, told members of that parliamentary body that she learned yesterday from the media that acting hospital director Zoran Vatavuk had given her a warning before dismissal for harming the hospital's reputation, noting that the hospital's reputation was harmed by corruption and those who committed and covered it up.

Zadravec said that her fight against corruption started in 2016, when her persecution and harassment started as well.

She said that as the deputy hospital head she reported in 2016 the charging of fictitious overtime work which the then director Mario Zovak had covered up, adding that she had reported this to the prosecutorial authorities and the Health Ministry.

Zadravec said that in late 2020 she discovered a criminal network at the hospital, with public money being siphoned by doctors, which was why she reported them for abuse of office.

The doctor, who claims to have extensive documentation proving her allegations, says that offers to suppliers with whom the hospital did business without public tenders, since the last public tender was conducted in 2019, were signed by doctors Vladimir Kalousek and Branimir Čule, and that the offers exceeded HRK 30 million.

She also cited cases when less material was used for operations than the quantity ordered from suppliers.

Commenting on Zadravec's allegations, the State Secretary and chair of the Sisters of Charity Hospital Steering Board, Tomislav Dulibić, said that hospital documentation was being checked by inspectors from the health and finance ministries and the HZZO health insurance agency.

"According to preliminary information, no significant departures have been found, except for some minor irregularities. Eleven inspectors are working on this, invite them to testify," Dulibić told the Anti-Corruption Council.

He said that the decision to carry out the inspection at the hospital was made a couple of weeks ago, noting that the relevant proceedings were underway.

The chair of the Anti-Corruption Council, Nikola Grmoja, asked if anyone had responded to Zadravec's claims, to which Zadravec said that after she reported the false charging of overtime work, Health Ministry inspectors were called in and concluded that the matter should be investigated by the hospital director.

Allegations should be investigated as soon as possible 

After conducting the interviews today, the Anti-Corruption Council adopted a conclusion asking the ministries of health, finances and economy as well as the prosecutorial authorities and the USKOK anti-corruption office to determine facts related to the case as soon as possible.

Zadravec was told to submit copies of the reports she had sent to the competent authorities as well as the text message in which, she claims, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković lobbied for Zovak's reappointment as the hospital head.

The Anti-Corruption Council will send the audio recording of today's hearing to the prosecutorial authorities, and it will ask the Health Ministry to submit all documents on inspections conducted at the hospital since 2016 or explain why no inspections were conducted.

The Council will also ask the government to secure additional conditions for the employment of financial investigators at courts in four big cities.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 June (Hina) - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has logged 96 new COVID cases after conducting 5,924 tests, and eight infected persons have died, the national COVID response team reported on Tuesday.

Currently, there are 767 active cases in the country, including 372 hospitalised patients, of whom 28 are on ventilators, and 5,352 people are in self-isolation.

To date, there have been a total of 358,677 registered cases of the contagion, 8,160 people have died as a consequence while 349,750 have recovered.

A total of 2,086,716 people have been tested for the virus to date, including 5,924 in the past 24 hours.

As of 14 June, a total of 2,164,874 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 1,419,924 people receiving at least one dose and 744,950 people receiving both vaccine doses.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.