ZAGREB, 11 June 2021 - The number of insured persons registered with the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) increased to 1,573 949 in May 2021, or 3.3% more than in May 2020, thus rising for four months in a row, the HZMO reported on Friday.

Broken down by business activity, the highest number, 245,053, are in the processing industry, and 239,352 in the wholesale and retail trade sector.

In comparison to May 2020, the highest increase of 8,200 more insured persons was registered in the construction industry, and 7,730 more in the hospitality and catering industry.

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ZAGREB, 9 June, 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has logged 275 new coronavirus cases and seven people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Wednesday.

There are 1,330 active cases in the country, including 520 hospitalised patients, 51 of whom are on ventilators.

Croatia has registered 358,061 cases of the novel coronavirus since it was first identified in the county on 25 February 2020 and 8,103 people have died as a consequence. A total of 348,628 people have recovered from the contagion, including 159 in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 6,819 people in self-isolation.

To date a total of 2,060,002 tests have been conducted and of that number, 5,970 were conducted in the past 24 hours.

By 8 June a total of 1,947,784 doses of vaccines have been administered. So far 1,357,103 people have received at least one dose while 590,681 have received both shots.

On 8 June alone, 27,128 shots were administered, the response team said.

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ZAGREB, 8 June, 2021 - Biljana Borzan, one of Croatia's members of the European Parliament, said on Tuesday that a motion by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to ban the sale of energy drinks to children should have been supported in 2018 because the recent death of a 13-year-old youth in Zagreb might have been avoided.

MEP Borzan, who put forward a bill to ban the sale of energy drinks to children, told a press conference that this is an exceptionally important topic, however, the ideas and proposals by the opposition were ignored at the time.

"Had our proposal to ban the sale of energy drinks to children three years ago been adopted in the Sabor, perhaps this tragedy would not have occurred. I am nauseated to be here today as a mother and a doctor," she said, expressing her condolences to the family of the deceased youth.

She added that this was the first case of death of a child connected to the consumption of an energy drink and warned that if nothing was done, it would not be the last. "There is a considerable number of cases like this one in the world. Consumption of energy drinks by children is problematic for more than one reason," said Borzan.

By consuming energy drinks, children consume large quantities of sugar, which negatively impacts obesity statistics in Croatia. The second problem is the consumption of caffeine, taurine and other problematic and suspect substances while the third problem is that children's taste changes with such extremely sweet beverages so all other food becomes insufficiently sweet for them, Borzan said. The fourth problem is that the consumption of energy drinks in combination with alcohol is becoming more and more popular among teenagers, she added.

High blood pressure, heart attack, arrhythmia, headache, nausea, vomiting, cramping, panic attacks, anxiety, stress, diabetes, addiction, allergies, insomnia, risky behaviour, are just some of the repercussions of excessive consumption of energy drinks, she explained.

She recalled that in 2018, the SDP had proposed a bill to ban the sale of energy drinks to children under the age of 18, which was rejected by the ruling majority, which initially said that the EU did not allow this, said Borzan.

That is not true as some Baltic countries have such a law in force while retail chains in some EU countries have imposed such a ban on their own, Borzan said.

The government then said that it would introduce an additional tax in an effort to deal with that problem, which it did, Borzan said, noting that a ban would be far more effective and just as it would refer only to children.

Citing data from the European Food Safety Authority, Borzan said that the situation in Croatia was concerning as 86% of 16-year-olds consume energy drinks and 47% of them combine them with alcohol.

Sixty percent of children under the age of 12 who regularly consume energy drinks said they did so because they liked the taste, Borzan said, noting that it was bizarre that 40% of them said they consumed them because they lacked energy.

In addition to a ban, it is important to educate the public so parents don't buy these drinks for their children, she said.

Referring to an announcement by the government that it plans to establish an inquiry commission for this problem, Borzan said that this was a tardy response and warned that inquiry commissions had not resulted in positive changes in the past.

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ZAGREB, 8 June, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 178 new coronavirus cases and five related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 management team reported on Tuesday. 

Currently, there are 1,221 active cases, including 545 infected people receiving hospital treatment, of whom 51 are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 357,786 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,096 have died and 348,469 have recovered, including 195 in the last 24 hours. A total of 6,954 persons are currently self-isolating.

To date, 2,054,032 people have been tested for the virus, including 6,814 in the last 24 hours.

By 7 June, 1,920,656 vaccine doses have been administered, with 1,345,741 people receiving one dose and 574,915 receiving both doses. On 7 June alone, 16,983 vaccine doses were administered.

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ZAGREB, 2 June, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 432 new cases of the coronavirus infection and eight related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases stands at 1,991, and there are 709 patients in hospitals, 81 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the coronavirus infection in Croatia on 25 February 2020, a total of 356,829 people have been registered as having contracted coronavirus, 8,042 have died, and 346,796 have recovered, including 276 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 9,065 people in self-isolation.

To date, 2,026,151 people have been tested, 5,657 of whom over the past 24 hours.

As at 1 June, 1,803,557 vaccine doses have been used, and 1,293,847 people have received at least one dose, while 509,710 of them have received both doses.

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ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 (Hina) - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in the parliament on Tuesday that the system of digital COVID-19 certificates was operational and that certificates could be obtained via the e-citizen system.

"Digital COVID certificates are here, they exist and can already be used," he said, showing MPs a paper copy of his certificate.

"The EU digital certificates goes into force in a month, the government has made a decision on the national mechanism for the issuing of certificates and I have obtained a certificate about having been vaccinated through the e-citizen system," he said, calling on MPs to do the same.

Plenković said that there was more than enough vaccine for all citizens as well as for countries with lower supplies, and that vaccination was now faster than before.

Responding to MPs' remarks, he said that the national coronavirus management team would make a decision that would make it possible also for people who had received one vaccine shot to enter Croatia 22 days after vaccination.

In a debate about an opposition motion for a vote of no-confidence in Health Minister Vili Beroš, Plenković dismissed the Opposition's claims that at one point patients could not obtain medicines and that the health system did not function.

"That's a lie, at no time were people left without medicines, the health system was never at breaking point, there was never a shortage of beds or ventilators and no medical service was ever unavailable," he said.

Health Minister Beroš told MPs that he was working on the problem of the health system's debts to drug wholesalers and that a projection of payment in the period until the end of the year had been made.

He also announced the relaunching of the Institute of Immunology, including for the production of viral vaccines.

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ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 7,039 tests performed in Croatia to coronavirus, 216, that is 3%, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reproted on Monday.

The COVID-related death toll has risen by eight to 8,034.

Currently, there are 1,843 active cases, including 753 hospitalised patients of whom 82 are placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the coronavirus infection in Croatia on 25 February 2020, as many as  2,020,494 people have been tested, and 356,397 have been positive to the virus. To date, 346,520 have recovered from the disease, including 300 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 8,927people are self-isolating.

So far, nearly 1.8 million vaccine doses have been administered, and 1.28 million Croatians have been given at least one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, while 492,989 have fully been vaccinated.

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ZAGREB, 26 May, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 538 new coronavirus cases and 21 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Wednesday.

That number is a little higher than yesterday, when there were 323 new cases and 21 deaths.

There are currently 3,112 active cases in the country and 1,034 hospitalised patients, 102 of whom are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of the novel coronavirus was detected in the country, there have been 354,921 registered cases of the contagion and 7,971 fatalities.

A total of 343,838 people have recovered, 424 of them in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 12,360 people in self-isolation.

A total of 1,988,226 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 6,830 in the past 24 hours.

As at 25 May, 1,608,291 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, with 1,197,164 people having received at least one dose and 411,127 having received both shots.

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ZAGREB, 25 May, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 323 coronavirus cases and 21 deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Tuesday.

There are 3,019 active cases, including 1,109 hospitalised patients, 109 of whom are on ventilators, while 12,207 persons are self-isolating.

So far Croatia has registered 354,383 coronavirus cases, including 7,950 deaths, while 343,414 persons have recovered, 546 of whom in the past 24 hours.

To date 1,981,396 persons have been tested for the virus, including 7,695 in the past 24 hours, and 1,605,287 vaccine doses have been administered, with 1,195,088 persons receiving the first shot and 410,199 both doses.

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ZAGREB, 18 May (Hina) - In the last 24 hours of 8,004 tests taken for coronavirus in Croatia, six percent, that is 491, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Tuesday.

The COVID-related death toll has risen by 27 to 7,765.

Currently, there are 4,871 active cases of the infection with this novel virus, and of them 1,566 are hospitalised patients, including 166 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection on 25 February 2020 in the country, Croatia has conducted more than 1.93 million tests.

As many as 350,997 have been diagnosed with this infection, and of them 338,361 have recovered including 886 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, Croatia has administered about 1.37 million doses of COVID vaccines. A total of 1,052,032 people have been given at least a one dose of the vaccine, and 317,937 have been inoculated with both shots of the two-dose vaccine.

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