The share of new coronavirus infections in the number of tested people in Croatia is 2.3 percent, Health Minister Vili Beros told a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

“The rate of confirmed cases has gone up slightly in the last seven days. The highest 14-day rates were recorded in Zadar and Medjimurje counties,” Beros said.

He warned that 300,000 people above the age of 65 had still not been vaccinated against COVID-19, adding their vaccination remained a priority. He urged elderly people to get vaccinated “because each new dose applied reduces the possibility of numbers increasing due to the presence of new variants of the virus.”

To date, 2,568,877 vaccine doses have been administered in Croatia, with 1,488,759 people having been vaccinated, or 44.3 percent of the adult population. A total of 1,080,118 people have received both doses.

The sequencing of 188 samples has shown the presence of the Alpha variant of the coronavirus in 54.1 percent of them and the Delta variant in 43 percent.

EU digital COVID certificate directive enters into force

“The certificate has by now been downloaded by 300,000 citizens, and 54,000 people have been registered as crossing the Croatian border using digital COVID certificates issued in 23 countries,” Bozinovic said.

A new decision on crossing the state border also entered into force today, under which EU citizens can enter Croatia without restrictions provided that they present a COVID certificate. These certificates can be used for concerts, open-air clubs, sporting events and the like.

Given that not everyone has a COVID certificate yet, EU citizens may also enter Croatia if they present a certificate of recovery or vaccination or a negative test.

Third-country nationals have to show proof of vaccination, recovery or testing, he said.