It has been three years since the first Covid-19 case was diagnosed in Croatia, on February 25, 2020, and although the situation is stable, the end of the pandemic has not yet been declared and people are still dying of the disease every day., according to the Institute of Public Health (HZJZ).

“We cannot yet say that Covid-19 is an ordinary virus because the end of the global pandemic has not yet been declared. In addition, we still have an average of two to three Covid-related deaths per day'”, HZJZ deputy director Ivana Pavic Simetin told Hina.

Croatia has come a long way in the fight against the new infection, and according to the latest report of the Covid-19 crisis team, the country had only nine new confirmed cases of the infection since 20 February.

Pandemic could be declared over in spring

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) is likely to decide that the COVID-19 outbreak will stop being a global emergency this spring, but this will primarily depend on the situation in China which has seen a surge in infections and deaths across since it lifted its zero-COVID policy at the end of last year.

The WHO first declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020. The emergency status is revisited every three months, when a committee of experts discusses the situation and then makes a recommendation.

In Croatia, the omicron strain and its subvariants dominate. The last subvarient detected in Croatia was the kraken which spreads more rapidly, but the symptoms are milder, there is less pressure on hospitals and fewer deaths.

Over the past three years, nearly 18,000 people in Croatia have died of Covid-19, and slightly more than 1,268,000 people have been infected.

The first year of the pandemic was marked by a spring lockdown, online classes, a ban on public gatherings, e-passes for leaving the place of residence, etc. Strict restrictions were in place from the end of March to mid-May, after which they were gradually eased.