May 8, 2023 - Croatian epidemiologists might be proposing the Croatian government declare the end of pandemic. Pulmonologist Saša Srića commented on the decision of the World Health Organization, declaring the end of the global threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

In his guest appearance for N1's Dnevnik, as reported by Index, this is what he said: "Two days ago, the president of the World Health Organization declared the end of the global threat related to the pandemic, not the end of the pandemic. But it is certainly one step towards the end of the pandemic. As in the whole world, there has been a positive trend in Croatia for the last year".

"Croatia will also move towards declaring the end of the pandemic"

He says that we can expect that Croatia will also move towards declaring the end of the pandemic.

"Krunoslav Capak will propose to the government to declare the end of the epidemic in Croatia. For the health care system, this will mean a relief. When the end of the pandemic is declared, we must know that the virus is still with us, but it no longer poses a threat. The virus still exists, but we will learn to live with it," said the pulmonologist and added: "The virus weakened because it mutated and, fortunately, it mutated into a weaker form. We believe that the danger that the virus will develop into a more severe form has passed."

He also stated that today there are very few patients with severe pneumonia.

"We hope that in our lifetime and in the future, we will not be in this situation again. It wasn't easy, but we did a great job with our joint efforts, and the vaccine contributed a lot. That all led us to be able to move on. The most difficult was to watch completely healthy people have their health collapse," he concluded.

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ZAGREB, 24 March 2022 - Croatia's cultural and creative industries have recorded sharp declines in revenues since pre-pandemic 2019, of 8.5 per cent on average, with some segments, such as music, film and art, having seen their revenues plunge by as much as 40, 35 and 25 per cent respectively, a conference was told in the eastern city of Osijek on Wednesday.

A study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Croatian cultural and creative industries, which the Ministry of Culture commissioned from the Zagreb Institute of Economics, also shows that some segments, such as video games, have seen increases in revenues since 2019, said Nenad Marčec, director-general of the Croatian Association of Composers.

Last year was still about 12% below the 2019 levels, but given that there were not many concerts and the tourism industry and cinemas operated at a reduced capacity, this is acceptable because a lot of revenues were generated from YouTube, Netflix and some other platforms that now have a large number of subscribers in Croatia. In 2015, there were about 2,000 subscribers to these services, and now there are 200,000, which is "a tectonic shift" that occurred during the pandemic and helped authors weather this crisis, he said.

Asked by the press what he expected from the new Copyright Act, Marčec said that it entered into force in December 2020 and would ensure the implementation of new directives on copyright on the digital market, which regulate the responsibilities of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for the use of copyright and make it possible for authors to get their fees. He said that these services had become multimillion companies that paid the authors hardly anything and the new law should benefit the authors.

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ZAGREB, 30 Oct, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has registered 4,547 new coronavirus cases and 30 patients have died, the national coronavirus crisis management team said on Saturday.

There are currently 25,153 active cases, including 1,330 hospitalised patients, of whom 175 are on ventilators.

Currently 34,838 people are self-isolating.

Since the first registered case of the infection on 25 February 2020, a total of 467,029 people have become infected and of them, 9,198 have died.

A total of 432,678 people have recovered, including 3,115 in the last 24 hours.

So far a total of 3,098,082 people have been tested, including 12,203 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,610,412 vaccine doses have been administered, with 47.03% of the total population having been vaccinated, that is, 56.33% of the adult population.

A total of 1,908,486 people have been vaccinated with one shot and 1,795,287 have received both shots, while 113,899 have received the single-dose Jannsen vaccine, which is 53.10% of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 17 Oct, 2021 - The coronavirus pandemic has affected the mental health of students, but it has also raised awareness of the importance of social contacts and in-person classes, a survey has shown.

The survey was carried out by the Agency for Science and Higher Education (AZVO) from 2 to 12 September, covering nearly 4,300 university students at all levels from across Croatia. Postgraduate students were asked to complete e-questionnaires.

The survey has revealed that direct contacts have no alternative, which is why it is important to return to face-to-face classes while at the same time complying with the epidemiological measures for the duration of the pandemic, AZVO's acting director Jasmina Havranek said.

In the last academic year, the majority of classes (40%) were taught only online, with 49% of senior graduates and 29% of first-year undergraduates attending such classes. 63% of freshmen said that they did not gain a full experience of studying because of the pandemic.

Over 35% of respondents cited classroom learning as the desired form of learning in the current academic year, while 29% said they preferred online classes.

As for vaccination against COVID-19, 60% of those interviewed said they would not support mandatory vaccination for students and faculty, while 25% said they would.

The survey revealed a considerable level of dissatisfaction among students with their lives compared with the pre-pandemic period, with 59% of them saying they were much less satisfied. Part-time students were more satisfied than their full-time colleagues.

The pandemic has also undermined the sense of belonging to the student community as 73% of students said they did not have a chance to meet new people as before. In post-pandemic life, the majority of students (71%) are looking forward to socialising with their colleagues without restrictions, and as many of them are looking forward to not having to wear face masks.

As many as 52% of students perceived their mental health as being worse or much worse than it was before the pandemic. Students were mostly concerned about the possibility of their infecting people close to them with coronavirus (57%), while they were least concerned about themselves getting infected (17%).

During the last academic year, 50% of students experienced social isolation and loneliness, and as many said they had trouble with their attention span and concentration. 46% felt anxious and 29% depressed, 43% used social networks in an unhealthy way, 32% expressed an interest in in-person counselling, while a quarter of them said they felt much better than before the pandemic.

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ZAGREB, 10 Oct, 2021 - The e-Citizens system could be called a coronavirus profiteer as it boomed during the pandemic, with more than 1.5 million registered users, Večernji List daily said on Sunday.

Although the appetites of the Central State Office for Digital Society Development, which operates the system, are much bigger, the number of registered citizens is almost twice as high as before the pandemic, the paper said.

The first incentive came from the e-passes introduced in spring 2020, during the first lockdown. They were required for crossing county lines and could be obtained much faster via e-Citizens.

The second motive for registering were the COVID certificates. On 1 June 2021, e-Citizens had 1,288,211 users. Since the moment the certificates could be obtained digitally until early September, the number of users went up by 115,255, while the number of those who registered only for the EU Digital COVID Certificate service in that period was 498,842.

The latest incentive for registration, bringing 83,500 new users, was the recently held first phase of the population census, during which citizens could self-enumerate online via e-Citizens.

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ZAGREB, 6 Oct, 2021 - Croatia registered 1,925 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours while 18 people died as a consequence, and there are currently 8,813 active cases in the country, the national COVID response team reported on Wednesday.

There are 820 hospitalised patients and 116 are on ventilators, while 16,186 people are self-isolating.

To date, 411,917 cases of contagion have been registered and 8,722 people have died, while 394,382 people have recovered. A total of 2,874,479 tests have been conducted, including 10,083 in the past 24 hours.

54.31% of the adult population vaccinated

As of Tuesday, 3,460,702 doses of vaccines had been administered, and 45.28% of the total population or 54.31% of the adult population had received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Yesterday, 8,144 people were vaccinated, of whom 5,073 received the first dose.

A total of 1,837,585 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, while 1,721,731 have been fully vaccinated, which makes up 50.97% of the adult population.

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

ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Croatia has registered 1,911 new coronavirus cases and 14 COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Wednesday.

The number of active cases now stands at 8,101, and 745 infected persons are receiving hospital treatment, including 99 who are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 403,080 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,628 have died and 386,351 have recovered, including 896 in the last 24 hours. 21,164 people are currently self-isolating.

To date, 2,813,356 people have been tested for the virus, including 10,148 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,419,381 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 44.66 percent of the total population, or 53.59 percent of adults, having been vaccinated. 1,812,532 people have received at least one dose and 1,700,089 have been fully vaccinated (1,606,849 people have received two vaccine doses and 93,240 have received the single-dose Jannsen vaccine), which makes up 50.34 percent of the adult population.

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ZAGREB, 28 Sept, 2021 - In the last 24 hours Croatia has conducted 9,257 coronavirus tests, and 1,061 of them, (11.5%) have returned positive, whereas eight more COVID patients have died, raising the COVID-19 death toll to 8,614, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Tuesday.

There are currently 7,100 active cases, and of them 738 are receiving hospital treatment including 102 patients placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with the novel virus in Croatia in late February 2020, the country has conducted over 2.8 million tests that have shown that 401,169 people have contracted the virus, and of them 385,455 have recovered, including 1,098 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

As many as 22,467 people are self-isolating.

To date, over 3.4 million vaccine doses have been administered, and 44.46% of the total population or 53.48% of the adult population have been vaccinated.

Every second adult Croat has fully been inoculated to date.

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ZAGREB, 19 Sept, 2021 - The Voice of Entrepreneurs and the Night Clubs and Bars Association say it is pointless that night clubs and bars are not allowed to stay open after midnight and that this decision by the national COVID-19 crisis management team is unjust, notably now that almost all of the EU has lifted restrictions on them.

Night clubs and bars have paid the highest price of the pandemic, the two associations said in a press release on Sunday.

The national team is not considering allowing night clubs to stay open without restrictions, provided that COVID rules are complied with, as though they are the only ones to blame for the insufficient vaccination rate in Croatia and rise in infections, the statement said.

The associations said that if night clubs were allowed to operate indoors without restrictions, with the use of COVID certificates, that might encourage young people to get vaccinated.

By ignoring the constitutional right to work, the activity of night clubs and the hundreds of night club owners and their families are being marginalised, the press release said.

Despite the government's job-retention aid and compensation for fixed costs, night club and bar owners cannot avoid closures and bankruptcies, it added.

Every individual must take responsibility for their health, the associations said, adding that by not allowing night clubs and bars to work in order to protect people who refused to get vaccinated, the national COVID team was bringing into question the purpose of vaccination.

They said they had not worked for 18 months and asked Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to try and live nine months without pay.

They told the national team to immediately open night clubs and bars, provided that COVID rules were complied with, or take responsibility for the ruin of the entertainment industry.

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ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Croatia reported a surge in the daily number of coronavirus cases on Wednesday as 1,835 new cases had been registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 7,037.

Among those infected are 603 people who are hospitalised and 64 of them are on ventilators. Seven people have died in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Vili Beroš told Parliament that Croatia was at the beginning of the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Today's 1,835 new infections are indeed a warning. Seven of the infected persons have died and only one of them was vaccinated. The healthcare system will be ready, but the question is whether society will be ready because not enough people have been vaccinated," Beroš said.

A similar number of cases were registered on 30 November 2020, when as many as 73 people died, and on 26 March 2021, when 16 people died.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was reported in Croatia, 386, 891 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,463 have died and 371,391 have recovered, including 609 in the past 24 hours. A total of 14,799 people are currently in self-isolation.

To date, 2,684,626 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 11,550 in the past 24 hours. A total of 3,341,864 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 43.53 percent of the total population or 52.26 percent of the adult population having been vaccinated. 1,766,447 people have received at least one dose and 1,655,970 of them have been fully vaccinated.

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