So far, eight cases of the infection with the omicron variant of coronavirus have been confirmed in Croatia, and four have been in Zagreb and another four in Split, Health Minister Vili Beros said on Wednesday.

Roughly 200 samples have been sent to the  European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for sequencing, and we will soon get information whether there are more and more cases of the infection with the latest variant of the virus, Beros said.

He said that since 16 November, when the Covid certificate mandate was introduced in the public sector, 681,309 tests have been conducted for that purpose and have revealed that 9,814 asymptomatic persons have caught coronavirus. Placing them in self-isolation has prevented the further spread of the virus, Beros explained.

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said that he had not been informed whether today’s protest of opponents of Covid certificates and vaccines in St. Mark’s Square had been organised in line with the relevant legislation.

Our position is that protests against strict rules in Croatia miss the point as Croatia has balanced and less restrictive anti-epidemic rules in comparison to other EU member-states, Bozinovic said.