ZAGREB, 31 March, 2021 - The national coronavirus crisis management team on Wednesday announced new epidemiological restrictions to be in force until 15 April, including a ban on indoor training, restrictions on the work of children playrooms and a temporary ban and restriction of cross-border travel.

The ban on indoor training does not apply to top competitions and athletes.

Certificates of vaccination with Russian, Chinese vaccines valid

Croatian border authorities will accept fast antigen tests as well as certificates about vaccination with the Russian and Chinese vaccines, and certificates proving their holders' recovery from COVID-19 and those certificates will be considered valid for 180 days, the team's head, Davor Božinović, said.

Border crossing has been regulated due to tourist visits, the exception being digital nomads and children.

"Considering restrictions in neighbouring countries, we do not expect a large number of arrivals," said Božinović.

He noted that the tighter restrictions were being introduced following a proposal to that effect by county COVID-19 response teams.

Apart from nationwide restrictions, the national team also made decisions on restrictions for Šibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia counties.

In Split-Dalmatia County, which has seen a big increase in new infections, the mandatory wearing of face masks at outdoor venues with an increased flow of people will be introduced, as will a ban on the sale of alcohol from 8pm to 6am. The work of cafes will be restricted until 8pm, and it will be possible to serve food and drinks only in the open. Foreign language schools will switch to online classes again.

Božinović said that restrictions could be additionally tightened since the epidemiological situation was not good.

Restrictions to be tightened if number of infections continues to grow

"We have a significant increase today and we cannot ignore the possibility of the scenario in neighbouring countries happening here as well. These restrictions will be in force for a few days but should statistics be worrying, we will introduce new measures," said Božinović.

The latest restrictions go into force on Thursday and will be in force until 15 April.

In the last 24 hours, 2,623 new coronavirus cases and 19 COVID-related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national coronavirus response team said earlier in the day.

The number of active cases now stands at 11,306. Among them are 1,337 people receiving hospital treatment, of whom 144 are placed on ventilators.

Croatian Public Health Institute head Krunoslav Capak warned that today the number of new infections was 47% higher than last week.

Istria County has the lowest incidence, while Primorje-Gorski Kotar County has the highest. Croatia is currently 18th in the EU in terms of the number of deaths per one million inhabitants, while in terms of the 14-day incidence it is 12th.

Speaking about the start of the third phase of vaccination, Capak said that care would be taken of the order in which people had registered for vaccination at the cijepi.se online platform.

"All people older than 16 can be inoculated in the third phase, but a certain priority will be given to people in services in which they come into contact with a large number of people," he said, adding that the third phase could start in May.

He noted that cases of infection with coronavirus after vaccination had been reported. "We have about 20 such cases. Forty-four people in aged care homes got infected after receiving the first dose and 22 got infected after the second dose, but the symptoms were mild."

Commenting on an announcement by the Zagreb COVID-19 response team about the wearing of face masks outdoors, Capak said: "If you are outdoors and alone, there is no need to wear a mask."

"Outdoor mask wearing refers to places where there are a lot of people, in the farmers' market, on the waterfront," he said, noting that the recommendation to wear a mask outdoors had been in force so far for places where physical distancing was not possible.

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

ZAGREB, 31 March, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 2,623 new coronavirus cases and 19 COVID-related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national coronavirus response team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases now stands at 11,306. Among them are 1,337 people receiving hospital treatment, of whom 144 are placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 271,632 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 5,947 have died and 254,379 have recovered, including 920 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 29,706 people are in self-isolation. A total of 1,549,854 people have been tested to date, including 10,622 in the last 24 hours.

By 30 March, 463,003 doses of vaccine have been administered and 374,399 people have been vaccinated, including 287,228 who have received one dose and 87,171 who have received two doses.

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

ZAGREB, 30 March, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 1,487 new coronavirus cases and 17 COVID deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said in a press release on Tuesday.

The number of active cases is 9,622, including 1,289 hospitalised patients, of whom 127 are on ventilators, while 27,940 people are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 269,009 coronavirus cases to date, 5,928 COVID deaths and 253,459 recoveries, including 1,138 in the past 24 hours.

To date 1,539,232 people have been tested for the virus, including 9,064 in the past 24 hours, and 367,458 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with a total of 453,710 doses administered, including two to 86,252 people.

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

ZAGREB, 26 March, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,802 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 16 deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said in Friday.

The number of active cases stands at 9,052. There are 1,107 COVID patients in hospitals, 115 of whom are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case, a total of 264,111 people have been infected, 5,854 of them have died and 249,205 have recovered, including 1,141 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 27,892 people in self-isolation.

To date, 1,511,40 people have been tested, 8,003 of whom over the past 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 25 March, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has performed 8,396 tests for coronavirus and 1,673 of them, or 20%, have returned positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Thursday.

Currently, there are 8,407 active cases in the country, and of them, 1,071  patients are receiving hospital treatment, including100 placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, the death toll related to COVID-19 has increased by 10 to 5,838.

Since the outbreak of this infectious disease in late February last year, over 1.5 million tests have been performed, and 262,309 people have turned out to be positive. Of them, 248,064 have recovered, including 856 in the last 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Health Minister Vili Beroš were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine at Government House on Tuesday, and Beroš said that they had sent a message of confidence in medical science and the medical profession.

"Today we have sent a strong message of confidence in medical science, the medical profession, primarily because we were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. We will continue to work diligently on vaccinating Croatian citizens so that they could continue living and working with as little risk of infection as possible. Every vaccinated individual contributes to the protection of the population and is definitely a step towards our old normal, and a step closer to a successful tourist season," Beroš told reporters after the vaccination.

He added that there were still many challenges ahead and that it was important to think about future challenges such as new variants of the virus.

"I believe that with this message we have encouraged citizens to follow us on that path, to curb the epidemic and return to our normal life," Beroš said.

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

ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,891 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 20 deaths, while the number of active cases currently stands at 7,600, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

There are 1,038 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 99 of whom are on ventilators.

At the moment, there are 23,766 people in self-isolation.

Since 25 February 2020, a total of 260,636 people have contracted coronavirus, 5,828 of them have died, and 247,208 have recovered, including 665 in the last 24 hours.

As of Wednesday, a total of 1,495,041 people have been tested, 9,327 of whom over the past 24 hours.

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

ZAGREB, 18 March, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 1,197 new coronavirus cases and 17 COVID deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

The number of active cases is 6,116, including 894 hospitalised patients, of whom 84 are on ventilators, while 20,528 people are self-isolating.

To date Croatia has registered 254,507 coronavirus cases, 5,726 COVID deaths and 242,665 recoveries, including 554 in the past 24 hours, and 1,454,984 persons have been tested for the virus, including 7,619 in the past 24 hours. The positive rate of tests in the last 24 hours was 15.7%.

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

ZAGREB, 17 March, 2021 - The number of new coronavirus infections in Croatia is up by 46% from last week and among the 12 COVID fatalities in the past 24 hours is a 12-year-old girl who had multiple comorbidities, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

"In the three days of this week, we had 2,265 new cases, while in the first three days of last week, we had 1,547. The incidence is 222.7, the lowest  being in Istria County and highest in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County," said Krunoslav Capak, head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

In EU rankings, Croatia is seventh with the lowest incidence. Today 16.7% of the test results were positive (1,445 cases).

British variant detected in 50% of samples

Speaking of new variants, Capak said the British one was present in more than 50% of the sequenced samples.

"These new variants spread somewhat faster, and due to vaccination, nicer weather and the favourable situation we have had, people have relaxed. There is more and more socialising, gatherings, which is the biggest risk for the spread of coronavirus infection," he said, adding that the classic epidemiological measures were also effective against the new variants.

Asked if Croatia was in a third wave of the epidemic, Capak said it was difficult to say but that the important thing was to continue to fight to cut down the numbers of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Speaking of the 12-year-old girl who died of COVID in the past 24 hours, Capak said she had a serious cardiovascular comorbidity.

He went on to say that less than 30% of people had refused the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Asked if the ministers who had recovered from COVID would be given that vaccine to promote it and if the vaccination of people over 65 with AstraZeneca would be suspended for fear of side effects, Capak said the response team was not considering either.

He said "we believe we have no reason" to suspend the administration of AstraZeneca to those over 65, adding that the European Medicines Agency's "commission on side effects is intensively investigating all side effects."

He said there was no difference in the occurrence of side effects with either Pfizer or AstraZeneca and that it was 0.5% in each.

Božinović: Existing regime should stay

The head of the national response team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said the existing regime of restrictions should stay and that possible changes should be made at county level.

Asked if restrictions would be tightened ahead of Easter, he said this regime could be kept up only if everyone was responsible and disciplined.

"In recent days the virus has been rapidly spreading in some parts of Croatia, so the measures should be considered at county level. Serious measures are in force, although they are the least restrictive in the European Union, and we will keep this regime only if everyone assumes responsibility."

Božinović said some counties were already tightening restrictions based on their epidemiological situation.

He would not comment on the suspension of vaccination with AstraZeneca in some countries despite there being no proof that some deaths were related to the vaccine. "We always explain the background of our decisions transparently and publicly, including this one to continue to administer AstraZeneca."

The head of Zagreb's Infections Diseases Hospital, Alemka Markotić, said she could not say how big the increase was in the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, adding that the outcomes of the children treated in her hospital were continually good and that the percentage was not high.

"The important thing is that the syndrome has been recognised. Our doctors manage to deal with it well and there are no major problems for now."

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

ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - Croatia has registered 691 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours while 12 people have died as a consequence, and currently there are 4,475 active cases in the country, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Tuesday. 

Of the total number of active cases, 858 are hospitalised patients, 78 of whom are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 was registered in Croatia, a total of 251,865 people have been affected with the virus.

The death toll in that period has reached 5,697 while 241,693 people have recovered, 546 of whom have recovered in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 17,271 people in self-isolation.

A total of 1,438,689 tests have been conducted to date, including 7,347 in the past 24 hours.

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