The head of the national COVID response team, Davor Bozinovic, said on Monday that it is difficult to expect any further relaxation of measures after 15 March considering that numbers of new coronavirus cases are on the rise.

“At the end of the week we should decide on whether to extend the current measures as they expire on 15 March. It is still too early to say anything definite but considering the increase in numbers, it is difficult to expect any further relaxation of measures as of 15 March. We need to focus on maintaining the current measures so we don’t have to go back,” said Bozinovic.

Capak: 16% increase in new infections on the week

There were 94 new cases of coronavirus registered on Monday while 19 people died. The share of positive cases of the 2,178 tests conducted was 4.3%. That share was 8.6% in the past 7 days and 8.1% in the past 14 days. There are 805 hospitalised COVID patients, 74 of whom are on ventilators.

We have 16% more people infected on the week, the head of the Croatian Institute for Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, warned.

Croatia is currently in sixth place with regard to the incidence rate in the EU and 18th with regard to fatalities.

Capak said that an analysis of an immunology study conducted by the Zagreb Infectious Diseases Hospital could result in a new policy in the fight against coronavirus.

Anyone who has recovered from COVID-19 and has been given their first vaccine dose need not receive a second dose, he said.

Capak advised that the situation with the supply of vaccines has stabilised over the past two weeks and that another 62,400 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine is expected in two shipments this week.

Johnson&Johnson’s vaccine should be registered by the end of March and the first shipment of 900,000 doses should arrive mid-April.

As far as crossing the border based on a certificate of vaccination is concerned, not one country has introduced that measure as yet.

“There are bilateral talks between countries and we have some bilateral talks too to mutually recognise vaccination certificates,” said Capak.

The look of the certificate, which is used only for medical purposes, has been defined for now while its use for crossing borders is being discussed at the EU level.

Beros: Massive check points for vaccination test run

Health Minister Vili Beros said that so far 54,008 people have registered online to be vaccinated and there have also been 4,271 calls in that regard.

“We are witnessing that massive check points for vaccination are a test run for what is to follow in the second and third phases, when more vaccines are expected,” said Beros.

We must not allow this mild increase in new cases to become a trend, he said. “Vaccination is encouraging but it must not be the cause of premature relaxation.”