Health Minister Vili Beros said on Wednesday that for the first time since 22 December, Croatia today registered the number of hospitalised Covid patients below 2,000, and the daily number of deaths linked to this infections below 30.

Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,135 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 26 related deaths, the national Covid-19 crisis response team said on Wednesday morning when 1,993 Covid patients were being treated in hospitals, including 193 on ventilators.

Beros told a news conference that despite a fall in coronavirus numbers, citizens should be on alert.

“Our well-balanced (anti-epidemic) measures are producing results,” he added.

Although the number of patients in Zagreb’s Arena sports centre, repurposed into a makeshift centre for treatment of Covid patients with moderate to serious symptoms, had fallen to 12, the minister said that the this makeshift centre would not yet been closed.

“We will not rush with its closure,” Beros said adding that the authorities would remain braced for new surges, if necessary.

He admitted that no solution had not still be found for the storage of the infectious waste from the two Covid hospitals in Zagreb, and added that the authorities continued searching for the best possible solution.

Downward trend in coronavirus numbers

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, informed the news conference of downward trend in coronavirus numbers.

In the first three days of this week, the new coronavorus infection cases fell by 30.6% compared to the corresponding period last week.

Croatia’s 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 334.4 cases, with Dubrovnik Neretva County having the lowest rate (165.8) while Međimurje County had the highest rate of 536.7 cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period.

To date, more than 35,000 Croatians have been vaccinated

Since Croatia started rolling out Covid vaccinations, more than 35,000 people have been vaccinated, and of them 16,425 are healthcare staff, while 15,848 have been residents of nursing homes.

In addition, 3,373 members of emergency services in the quake-hit area of Sisak-Moslavina County received first jabs of Covid vaccination last night, Capak said.

He added that so far, the authorities had received 86 reports on side-effects of the vaccination, and each of them will be dealt with by the special task force.

Some reports will be rejected, and claims from some reports will be registered, according to Capak who noted that a majority of side-effects were mildly elevated body temperature, swelling or pain around the injection site, headache. We had some serious side effects that had occurred, he added.