January the 10th, 2022 - A big change is coming to the fight against coronavirus in Croatia, as Croatian rapid antigen tests (RAT/BAT) will soon be enough to prove a COVID-19 infection, without the need for an additional PCR test to back up a positive antigen result.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a PCR test will no longer be mandatory, and soon Croatian rapid antigen tests will be enough to detect and prove a COVID-19 infection and later obtain EU digital covid certification, as was announced on Monday by Health Minister Vili Beros, who visited KBC Split together with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"The testing paradigm will change, PCR tests will no longer be mandatory, and contraction of the disease will be able to be proven with the results of Croatian rapid antigen tests,'' Beros said in response to journalists' remarks about the long waiting times for PCR testing.

The rest of the EU still requires a negative PCR test...

In this regard, a meeting of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health will be held tomorrow to enshrine the rule that rapid antigen tests will be able to be performed based on a doctor's referral to prove the existence of the disease. "It's a response to the emergence of a new variant (Omicron) of the virus," Beros said.

With a negative rapid antigen test, it will be possible to obtain an EU digital covid certificate that will be valid here in Croatia, but the rest of the EU still requires a negative PCR test in order for it to be valid for them, too. If you're vaccinated with two or three doses and already have a certificate based on your vaccination, this of course doesn't apply to you.

In the past 24 hours, 1,578 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in Croatia, and the percentage of positives among those tested stood at 36.33 percent.

"We're recording an increase in the number of new infections when compared to last Monday, when there were 1103 newly infected people recorded," said the Minister after visiting the Clinical Hospital in Split, where the situation has been somewhat dramatic over more recent days due to the large influx of patients.

He stated that the fact that Split-Dalmatia County has only had about 50 people coming for their first dose of the vaccine per day to be devastating, reiterating that mandatory vaccination is not an option for Croatia for now, but if the situation worsens, it will most certainly be considered.

Hospitals are under more pressure by the coast than in the continental part of the country.

He called people to think about the next tourist season because there is a possibility that the EC will introduce vaccination of the domicile population as a condition for the arrival of tourists.

Due to the emergence of the new Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, Croatian hospitals are becoming more and more crowded, but this is happening much more significantly in coastal regions and not in continental regions, which have a far better vaccination rate.

In this regard, Beros compared KBC Split and KBC Osijek. "At KBC Split, the occupancy rate is 92.7 percent, and the respirator occupancy rate is 56.79 percent, compared to Osijek, where the occupancy rate is 51.85 percent, and the respirator occupancy rate is just 14.12 percent." He also reported that 66.59 percent of the adult population in the Republic of Croatia had been vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine.

Plenkovic called on people over the age of 60 to get vaccinated

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic reiterated the importance of getting fully vaccinated and then receiving a booster dose, especially for residents of Split-Dalmatia County, where a large number of new cases of infection have been reported.

"We have 217 hospitalised people here because of COVID-19, 49 of them have had to be placed on respirators. I'd especially like to call on senior citizens who are at the greatest risk of complications, and by that I mean all those over 60. It's up to them and their families to explain and convey to them why it's good to get vaccinated and thus have greater protection,'' said Plenkovic.

On Monday, the Prime Minister participated in a meeting with the Management Board of KBC Split, and speaking about the development projects of the hospital, he noted that the unified emergency hospital reception in Split will be completed by 2023.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

January the 8th, 2022 - Croatian PCR tests have become quite the hot commodity indeed as people wait for days not only for their results but to get their hands on one in the first place. This is not only due to a rise in the infection rate, but because the unvaccinated (the number of which remains high in Croatia) can get covid certificates based on a negative test result. For now, at least...

Vesna Visekruna Vucina from the Croatian Institute of Public Health was a recent guest on New Day, where the situation with Croatian PCR tests and the spread of Omicron was discussed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the increase in the number of infected people, Vucina says, was due to the recent Christmas and New Year festive gatherings, but also due to the nature of this variant of the novel virus itself.

When asked about the level of public interest in vaccination, she said: “This is mostly to do with booster doses. As we've already seen, when there's such a sharp increase in the number of patients, a certain number of people do decide to be vaccinated with their first dose, but people are afraid of large numbers. Vaccination is growing towards higher age groups, it is highest in the age group of 70 to 74 years. However, the elderly are still not vaccinated sufficiently enough,''

“Vaccination protects against more severe forms of the disease developing. Over 70 percent of those hospitalied with more severe clinical pictures are not vaccinated," she told N1.

On what to expect in the next two weeks, Vucina said that we have already seen in previous waves that there will now be many people who will become so unwell that they'll need to be hospitalised. “It is to be expected that this wave will continue, but it is difficult to say what we can expect,” she warned.

Regarding the epidemiological measures that are currently in force and the introduction of new ones, she said: “It would be desirable to adhere to the already existing measures, those that have been recommended since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. We'd like to urge people to get vaccinated because in combination with basic measures and vaccination, there is little risk of developing a more severe form of the disease,'' she added.

Croatian PCR tests and their waiting times...

There are a huge number of people coming to testing points at this moment in time, and the system is struggling to keep up with it.

“There will probably be an increase in capacity given the huge demand for testing. People who have a more severe form or pronounced symptoms have in some way an advantage over those who are asymptomatic. Most unvaccinated people who want to do a PCR test do so in order to get a covid certificate,'' she said.

“People can take a test at home if they have suspicions or have been in contact with someone infected. It’s hard to predict what will unfold when you see new strains of a virus emerge. It's difficult to know what will happen with the mutation of the virus. It's necessary to get vaccinated, to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus to an absolute minimum,'' she noted.

"Just because someone is young is at lower risk of developing complications, doesn't mean we can be absolutely sure that there will be no complications. We don't yet know what kind of clinical picture Omicron causes," she said, adding that research suggesting a milder clinical picture had been done in younger people and that the typical therapy and treatment were the same as for Delta-infected people.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and choose your preferred language if it isn't English.