The Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) confirmed on Friday that the Kraken variant of COVID-19, has arrived in Croatia, with 12 such cases having been identified.

“The clinical symptoms are milder than those caused by Omicron, namely by BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants,” said epidemiologist Dijana Mayer.

The HZJZ noted that measures of precaution were still important, notably maintaining good personal hygiene and hand washing, and recommends that elderly people and groups at risk avoid large indoor and public space gatherings. It also called on people who have still not been vaccinated to get vaccinated.

Some COVID-19 variants spread faster and are more contagious, and the Cerberus and Kraken variants are slightly more contagious because they are taking over dominance from the previous strains. Clinical symptoms so far confirm that they do not cause a more serious form of the disease.

The current spreading of respiratory infections and COVID-19 is as expected since COVID-19 restrictions are no longer in force and large gatherings in public areas and indoor spaces are frequent.