The head of Zagreb's Dr Fran Mihaljevic hospital for infectious diseases, Alemka Markotic, said on Monday that Croatian scientists had isolated the first SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus found in Croatia, which would enable new neutralization tests and was important for international cooperation.

“Dr Zeljka Macak-Safranko has isolated the first Omicron virus in Croatia. That will enable new neutralization tests and is exceptionally important for us and for international cooperation,” Markotic said in an interview with state television HRT.

She reported that the hospital was full of Covid patients and that the pressure on intensive care units was not abating either.

Commenting on the delivery of 1,800 doses of a Covid-19 medicine in Croatia, Markotic stressed that the medicine was a combination of two monoclonal antibodies that neutralise the spike protein, preventing the virus to multiply and spread. The medicine can be administered as a treatment drug, in a single dose, or preventively, to persons who do not require oxygen but are at high risk of severe Covid-19.

Markotic said the medicine was an expensive drug that had shown good results in the testing phase and that she believed it could be effective also in the case of infection with the Delta variant.

As for the Omicron variant, she said that unfortunately the medicine did not have a more significant effect and stressed that vaccination was still the best prevention.

“Preliminary findings show that a third, booster dose protects against the Omicron variant, almost the entire Western Europe has stepped up vaccination with the third dose. It seems that that could stop the virus,” she said, noting that there was still no sufficient information on the new variant and calling against on citizens to get vaccinated.