The head of the national COVID response team, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Monday said that the government had agreed with Orthodox Church dignitaries that if required, special epidemiological instructions for Orthodox Christmas would be defined in the first week of January.

“As far as Orthodox Christmas is concerned… government representatives contacted Orthodox Church dignitaries and it was agreed that if required, special instructions will be defined in the first week of January, depending on epidemiological developments and the specificities of Orthodox liturgy,” Bozinovic said.

He said that by 10 am 1,120 calls, 5,600 e-mails and a total of 10,848 applications had been received related to passes for travel within the country.

Asked whether criminal charges had been filed against the founder of the Index.hr web portal Matija Babic, who called for churches to be burnt down, Bozinovic said that the police were familiar with that post and that they were taking action within their remit.

He recalled that Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic had, in agreement with Prime Minister Andrej Plenovic, made a decision on a 48-hour ban on passenger flights from Great Britain due to the emergence of a new strain of coronavirus in that country.