The current restrictions to curb the Covid-19 epidemic, which expire on 10 January, have been extended until 31 January, which means that restaurants and cafes in Croatia will remain closed for the next three weeks, the national coronavirus crisis management team said on Friday.

Some of the restrictions refer to shortened work hours, restrictions for passengers in public transportation, no more than 25 people are allowed to gather for public events, and so on.

Shops and shopping centres are required to ensure 10 to 20 square metres of space per customer, depending on the size of the net sales area.

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said that despite the downward trend in new coronavirus numbers, the number of hospitalisations was still high and that cold winter conditions were conducive to the spread of the novel virus.

The authorities still expect the impact of the Christmas and New Year holidays as well as of the recent earthquakes on the total tally of coronavirus cases.

The crisis management team is worried by the current trends in Europe, where some countries with more stringent restrictions are faced with a resurgence.

Health Minister Vili Beros said that there were now fewer hospitalised Covid patients and fewer fatalities, but that there was no room for relaxation.

He recalled that the largest number of hospitalized Covid patients, 2,956, was registered on 21 December, and their number fell to 2,251 on Friday.

The largest number of patients on ventilators, 306, was registered on 19 December, and today it stands at 194. On 12 December, there was a record high number of new patients admitted to hospitals in a day, 306, while on Friday, 215 new patients were hospitalized for Covid treatment.

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, said that Croatia’s incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of 14 days stood at 351.8 today, which put it in the middle of the EU ranking. On 27 December, Croatia fared much worse, with a 14-day incidence rate of 974 new cases per 100,000 people.

Croatia’s Covid-19 related death rate per million at 1.032

Capak said that currently Croatia’s Covid-19 related death rate per million inhabitants was 1.032, and in these terms Croatia ranks 20th in the European Union.

To date, Croatia has vaccinated 24,985 persons, including 3,000 in the quake-hit Sisak-Moslavina County, Capak said.