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.

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

ZAGREB, 25 May, 2021 - Montenegrin Health Minister Jelena Borovinić Bojović said in Zagreb on Tuesday that Croatia's donation of 10,000 vaccine doses was significant for Montenegro's efforts to inoculate its population against COVID-19.

In early May the Croatian government decided to donate 30,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines to Bosnia and Herzegovina and 10,000 doses each to Montenegro and Kosovo.

After meeting with her Croatian counterpart Vili Beroš, Borovinić Bojović thanked Croatia for that "big friendly gesture and great solidarity."

The donation of 10,000 doses will be "very significant in the process of mass inoculation that is currently underway in Montenegro," she said.

Croatia's Health Minister Vili Beroš underscored that Croatia's care for its neighbouring countries.

"I hope that we will contribute at least a little in the fight against this disease," said Beroš.

The two ministers discussed cooperation in the transplantation programme with Borovinić Bojović underscoring that Croatia has "shown especially good will to help us in resolving that problem."

She added that they discussed the signing of a memorandum of understanding that would enable Montenegrin doctors to come to Croatia for further training regarding transplantation surgeries.

The Croatian transplantation programme has been recognised beyond the borders of our country, said Beroš.

He underscored Croatia was willing to help Montenegro in that regard.

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May the 10th, 2021 - When might Croatia relax at least some of its anti-epidemic measures, which despite being the most liberal in all of Europe, are still causing grief as the pandemic continues? Krunoslav Capak offered some clues going forward.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said that the coronavirus vaccination rollout here in Croatia was progressing very well, and that if there are enough vaccinations administered, larger and even mass events similar to the ones we once knew so well and took for granted could be organised for people who had been vaccinated or who have tested negative for the novel virus, as reported by N1.

''It isn't going to be happening tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but rest assured, it is being discussed,'' Krunoslav Capak said, adding that all of Croatia's epidemiological measures will remain in force as they are now and that we can be quite sure that nothing will change in the next few weeks.

''With more and more vaccinated people and the arrival of warmer weather, we hope to be able to talk about easing some measures and organising larger gatherings,'' Krunoslav Capak said.

''We set a record the other day, we vaccinated 53,000 people, breaking the record from a week ago when 47,000 people were vaccinated,'' he said, adding that he hopes to be able to even break that record as we go forward in the fight against the novel virus.

''Everyone is committed to getting as many people vaccinated as possible. Our goal is to be about 55 percent of people, we hope more than that and that would be the beginning of a more peaceful and normal life,'' said the director of the CNIPH, emphasising that they are working on education about the virus, the vaccine and a very strong media campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated so that we might return to at least some form of pre-pandemic normality.

Krunoslav Capak said that in the country's tourism sector, which employs about 65,000 people in total, several thousand people have been vaccinated, and that the CNIPH is sending a larger number of doses to Dalmatian and coastal counties and Istria in order to vaccinate as many tourist workers as possible before the summer season begins, which still has many question marks hanging over its head.

For all you need to know about coronavirus in Croatia, including border, travel and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.