Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, who is at the helm of Croatia's Covid-19 crisis management team, said on Thursday that current Covid protocols would remain effective until the end of February if no changes happened in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the next few days, the crisis management team will consider the protocols on public gatherings, public transport, shopping, protective mask mandate, and cross-border protocols, and they are likely to remain in force until the end of February,” Bozinovic told the government.

Health Minister Vili Beros said that the PCR tests conducted in the last 24 hours had detected 10,500 new cases, plus 6,375 cases detected by rapid antigen tests, however, the daily caseload is 3.5 percent lower than seven days ago.

There are 2,006 hospitalized patients today, 30 more than yesterday, and 185 are on ventilators, seven fewer than yesterday, he said.

Hospital admission numbers are rising mildly but not in proportion to the number of new infections, he said.