The COVID-19 situation has continued to deteriorate across the European Union and is considered "very worrying" in ten countries, including Croatia, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECD) said on Friday, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.

Of the 27 EU member states, the situation is very worrying in Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, and Slovenia, the ECDC said.

The most favourable epidemiological situation is in Italy, Malta, Spain, and Sweden, it added.

Croatia remained “dark red” on the ECDC’s latest COVID-19 map, released on Thursday.

In the EU and the European Economic Area, 81.1 per cent of people aged above 18 have received at least one dose of vaccine, the ECDC said.

In Croatia, over 50,000 people have received their first shot in the last three days, Health Minister Vili Beros tweeted.