Asked about working hours for hotels and the hospitality sector on New Year's Eve, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, who serves as the head of the national COVID crisis management team, said on Friday that the decision on midnight closing time was still in force, however, he did not entirely rule out the possibility of that decision being amended.

“Decisions that are in force refer to working hours until midnight. It’s only the 10th of December today… the response team is considering all the possibilities and we won’t wait until the eleventh hour. However, at the moment, I would not like to say anything that might be interpreted as a decision or stance,” Bozinovic said after a cabinet meeting.

“You know the rules of the game by now – if the current decline in the number of infections continues, I do not see any reason why, with some possible recommendations, something could not be allowed for that evening,” he added.

Bozinovic added that one could not forecast how much the Omicron variant, which spreads quickly, would spread.

“A lot is still unknown. Everyone is following the situation in South Africa (…)  the experts there are analysing that variant and we all depend on those results, from governments to vaccine producers,” he said.