The head of Zagreb's Dr. Fran Mihaljević Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic, believes that epidemiological restrictions will be relaxed and that gatherings with a larger number of people will probably be allowed but she has also stressed the importance of vaccinating as many people as possible.

The number of new infections has dropped over the past week at a rate of almost 40%, the number of hospitalisations and patients on ventilators has been falling as well, but the clinical symptoms of the hospitalised patients are still rather serious, Markotic said in an interview with Croatian Television on Saturday.

“We must take care not to destroy the current positive trends, but I believe that epidemiological restrictions will gradually be relaxed,” she said.

She noted that a fourth wave of the epidemic was possible in the autumn, noting that among those who were being hospitalised were also young and middle-aged people, between 50 and 60 years old.

Asked if she believed that Croatia would achieve the plan of having 55% of the adult population vaccinated by the end of June, Markotic said that the vaccination trends were excellent.

“We all sincerely hope that we will manage to reach that percentage. That also depends on the health system, which is doing its best to help step up the vaccination process,” she said.

She also commented on the need for an additional campaign to encourage people who are still undecided about whether to get vaccinated or are waiting for the autumn to do it.

“It is already clear that the vaccine provides protection for a period of up to six months, or up to a year. To wait for the autumn means to expose yourself and people close to you to the risk of infection, even if it is only a less serious form of the disease. Even mild cases of the disease have serious side effects, not to mention the possibility of returning to a normal life. The tourist season is ahead, we should not allow a repeat of last year and the tourist season ending as early as 15 August. How we will do this year is up to us,” Markotic said, calling on all to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Asked when the pandemic could end, Markotic said that epidemiologists expected it to be put under control by next spring on the condition a large share of the world population gets vaccinated.