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, 24 Oct, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, Croatia has conducted 8,652 coronavirus tests and of them 2,293 (26.5%)  have turned out to be positive, and 28 COVID patients have died, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Sunday.

Currently, there are 17,841 active cases, and of them 1,091 are hospitalised patients, including 131 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with the virus on 25 February 2020, 445,325 people have caught it, and of them 9,038 have died and 418,446 have recovered, including 1,743 in the last 24 hours.

To date, over 3.03 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in the country

In Croatia, 55.72% of the adult citizens have fully been vaccinated against this infectious disease.

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ZAGREB, 23 Oct, 2021 - The Croatian Federation of Diabetes Associations on Saturday launched the campaign "Pokreni se (Get Moving)" to raise awareness among diabetes patients about importance of physical exercise and regular medical exams.

The representatives of the associations and doctors today warned that the COVID-19 pandemic had decelerated the rate of diagnosing this disease.

The latest data show that approximately 310,000 people in Croatia have diabetes, but their actual number is estimated at 500,000. The situation concerning medical investigations and regular check-ups has deteriorated because of the pandemic.

Tamara Poljičanin of the Croatian Institute of Public Health said that for the first time since the official records began, a decrease in the newly diagnosed cases of diabetes had been registered, due to fewer medical examinations and fewer visits to hospitals.

The experts today warned about a low turnout of diabetes patients for vaccination against coronavirus.

Only 6 in 10 diabetes patients fully vaccinated

An analysis made on 1 September showed that only 60% of patients suffering from diabetes had fully been vaccinated.

The head of the "Andrija Štampar" School of Public Health, Mirjana Kujundžić Tiljak, called on diabetes patients  to get vaccinated.

During today's event, doctors warned that 80% of diabetes patients are overweight.

The campaign for raising awareness about the importance of physical exercise for diabetes patients has been launched in Croatia to mark the centenary of the discovery of the hormone insulin, one of the most important breakthroughs in treating diabetes.

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ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides visited a COVID-19 vaccination point in Zagreb on Friday with Health Minister Vili Beroš, telling Croatian citizens to get vaccinated and listen to scientists' messages, not messages on social media.

Get vaccinated to protect yourselves, your fellow citizens and so that hospitals are not full of patients again. That's a very clear message, based on science and the reality we know. Listen to scientists, not experts on social media, Kyriakides said.

We are not in the same situation as in 2020. Today we have a safe and effective vaccine which was approved for use in the EU. We have enough vaccines, but we must go forward. We don't want to have a pandemic of the unvaccinated, she added.

Croatia has vaccinated about 55% of its adult population against coronavirus. It must accelerate it because in the EU we have more than 75% of the population fully vaccinated. That's why it's necessary to accelerate vaccination as much as possible so that we don't have areas in the EU that are still unprotected, she said.

Minister Beroš commented on a letter by five members of the government's Scientific Council who distanced themselves from statements made by Council member Gordan Lauc.

He said that when members of a scientific forum individually commented on "expertly established facts" on social media, contrary to the forum's clearly stated views, such commenting "is damaging."

Beroš added that he said yesterday all he had to say about Lauc and the Council and that, as far as he knew, most Council members wanted to continue to be part in it.

They don't intend to leave the Council as that would send a bad message of inconsistency, he added.

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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, 25 Sept, 2021 - In the past 24 hours 1,293 coronavirus cases and 14 related deaths have been confirmed in Croatia, while the number of active cases stands at 8,577, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Saturday.

A total of 661 persons are hospitalised, including 94 on ventilators, while 22,832 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 399,054 coronavirus cases to date, including 8,580 deaths, and 381,897 recoveries, of which 1,219 in the past 24 hours.

To date 2,781,837 persons have been tested for the virus, including 9,782 in the past 24 hours, and 44.44% of the population has been vaccinated, including 53.32% of adults, of whom 50.07% fully.

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ZAGREB, 18 Sept, 2021 - Commenting on the Freedom Festival rally, held in downtown Zagreb on Saturday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković described as unserious the emotionalism regarding freedoms in Croatia in the context of the country's COVID-19 death toll and restrictions in other countries.

"I find the emotionalism regarding freedoms, after so many COVID-19 deaths and the cost for the health system, unserious," Plenković told reporters during a visit to Vukovar.

The organisers of Freedom Festival 2.0 have said that "most people now realise that COVID-19 has been misused for political ends that include the introduction of an entire set of measures and decisions that cause unprecedented damage to humans and benefit only smaller groups in positions of immense power."

"COVID-19 has been here for more than 20 months, and if there are people who are still not aware of the reality, they should check media reports and credible information to see how many people have died so far around the world, including Croatia," the PM said in a comment on the Zagreb rally.

He noted that in the past 24 hours 12 people died of COVID-19 and that only two had been vaccinated, one being a 95-year-old woman and the other a person with a serious illness.

"I call on all citizens to be reasonable, responsible, there is protection and I don't see why they would not follow the example of the 52% of Croatians who have already been vaccinated," he said.

He said that Croatia had less restrictive anti-epidemic rules than some other countries and that the education system, transport, economy, production and social life had been functioning.

People in Croatia have been able to go to the cinema, theatre, to museums and restaurants, he noted, adding that that was why he considered the emotionalism regarding freedoms unserious.

I don't see reason for protests in Croatia

Even though mass protests are taking place across Europe, including France, Slovenia and Greece, Plenković said that he did not see any reason for protests in Croatia.

"The regime here has not been strict... people have been able to go to school, travel by bus, train, go to the cinema, theatre... What is missing? Discos? I think we can survive without discos for one season, hopefully the last one," he said, noting that the topic had been exaggerated as there was no reason for criticism about restriction of freedoms in Croatia

Noting that he was not imposing his opinion on anyone, Plenković said that as a responsible prime minister, trusting science, he wanted to repeat that COVID-19 was spread easily, that more than 8,300 Croatians had died of it and that the costs related to the disease amounted to HRK 36 billion.

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ZAGREB, 18 Sept, 2021 - COVID certificates will be required in the health and social care systems most probably as of 1 October, Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović said on Friday.

We can see that neighbouring countries are using COVID certificates much more extensively than we. We have opted for introducing them in the health and social care systems, he told the public broadcaster HTV.

In social care, the certificates will be mandatory for those employed in both the private and public systems.

They will not be mandatory for those working with the youngest beneficiaries, but they will be in care homes, which are the most at-risk and where mortality is highest, Aladrović said. We assume that will occur as of 1 October, he added.

Asked about mandatory vaccination for certain employees on the model of other countries, for example Slovenia, which has imposed it for state administration employees, Aladrović said Croatia was not propagating that and that he hoped people would be responsible so that mandatory vaccination would not become mandatory.

However, COVID certificates are the mildest possible measure we can introduce to ensure a high degree of protection for health and social care beneficiaries, he said, adding that the certificates might be required in other sectors as well, depending on COVID developments and experts' advice.

Aladrović went on to say that he did not expect a new lockdown because of the availability of vaccines.

He said that if some businesses had to close again due to the epidemic, the government would support them as it had during the previous two lockdowns to save jobs.

Speaking of amendments to the Minimum Wage Act, he said the government wanted to provide employees with an additional socioeconomic protection mechanism.

Under the amendments, the wage must be contracted in the gross amount and collective agreements must be honoured, Aladrović said, adding that in the two terms of the incumbent government, the minimum wage was raised by 38%.

Given the trends on the market, with wages generally going up, we expect the minimum wage, which is now HRK 3,400, to go up significantly by 31 October, on which negotiations are under way with the social partners, the minister added.

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ZAGREB, 15 Aug, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Saturday attended a meeting of the Jelsa Municipal Council on Hvar island on the occasion of the municipality's day, as did Health Minister Vili Beroš as Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's envoy.

Beroš said at the meeting that the tourism results were brilliant owing to the national COVID crisis management team's thinking as well as everyone who complied with the restrictions.

He called for caution "because we don't know what the situation will be like in the autumn," adding that vaccination was the only way out of the crisis.

He said 49.7% of the adult population was vaccinated and that those who were not "represent a reservoir of a possible continuation of new coronavirus variants."

"We are still in the orange (COVID zone), but our position on the ECDC list is unstable. The rising numbers warn that the virus is among us and this position on the list could deteriorate. That won't end the tourist season, but if the epidemic flares up, it could disrupt health plans and plans for the post-season."

Beroš went on to say that big reforms were expected in the health sector, that the system was burdened with many problems, and that the COVID crisis had highlighted all that was good in the system as well as many negative things.

Commenting on Beroš's speech, Milanović said that "we have been living in abnormal circumstances for a year already, on the brink of encroaching upon human freedoms, which requires firm, clear justifications understandable to everyone."

"For now we are holding on and what I see as the most endangered is people's mental health. This will pass. I support the minister and I support any reasonable and persistent policy whose goal is good. So, get vaccinated and most of the problems will be solved," he said.

The president said prejudices were not smart, either about science or something based on proof, research and the trial and error method in which, he added, success was guaranteed and errors  were minor or reduced to the statistical minimum.

"What has been developed in the past year and a half is one of the greatest triumphs in the history of human knowledge, human organisation and synergy. It's an example of synergy, intelligence and money in a short time. Let's get vaccinated!"

Speaking on the occasion of Jelsa Municipality Day, the president said the people of Jelsa were developing their municipality well and in harmony.

He added that every society and politics must start from people's right and possibility to organise into everything that was not subversive or destructive.

Milanović said "we owe loyalty to the Croatian state, which is our national, civic state. It has its territory, its borders, open, human... it has its customs, its history, it also has its prejudices."

He supported everyone who fought for Croatia having such a status in Europe because, he said, the EU was not what had been conceived many years ago, but it was good. "In that world, we are fighting for our interest."

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ZAGREB, 14 Aug, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 9,194 coronavirus tests have been performed in Croatia, and of them 4%, that is 367, have come back positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Saturday.

The COVID-19 death toll has risen by two to 8,282.

Currently, there are 1,782 active cases, and 192 patients infected with this virus are receiving hospital treatment including 20 placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the infection with coronavirus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, 366,724 people have tested positive, and of them, 356,660 have to date recovered, including 223 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

One in two adult Croats vaccinated against COVID-19

Since the start of the vaccine rollout, 3,166,258 coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in Croatia, and four in ten citizens (41.4%) have got vaccinated, or 49.7% of the adult population.

So far, nearly 1.68 million people have been given a shot, while 1.55 million have fully been vaccinated, that is 45.9% of the adult population.

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