Vaccination of Croatian tourism workers against COVID begins

ZAGREB, 24 April (Hina) – The organised vaccination of tourism workers against COVID-19 began in Dubrovnik on Friday with about 430 people vaccinated during the day.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac visited the vaccination point and said Dubrovnik was chosen to begin the vaccination of tourism workers because of its significance as a destination.

“With the ‘Safe Stay in Croatia’ project, we have developed all the standards. We are sending guests a message of safety so it’s important that as many tourism workers as possible are vaccinated,” she said.

Vaccination will be organised in other counties as well because tourism workers are a priority, she said, adding that she expected all who wanted to be vaccinated to be vaccinated before the summer.

Brnjac said 70% of tourism workers had expressed interest in being vaccinated. “We certainly expect a higher turnout because tourism workers are directly in contact with guests, and it’s important that we reduce the possibility of hotspots. Besides, in choosing a destination, guests will look at the vaccination rate.”

The government will ensure antigen tests for tourists for a symbolic price and it’s up to us to adhere to the epidemiological measures, Brnjac said.

It’s important to have testing points not just at airports and border crossings but also in marinas and elsewhere where tourists can access them easily, she added.

The minister said that in agreement with the Croatian Institute of Public Health, private renters would also be vaccinated.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County head Nikola Dobroslavić said he was pleased Dubrovnik was chosen to start the vaccination of tourism workers as “we have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis.”

He said that last year the Dubrovnik area recorded a tourist turnover drop of over 80% in comparison with 2019. “We still believe that we can achieve 60 to 70% of the 2019 results, although we are aware that this depends on the situation in tourist generating countries.”

20,000 Croatians inoculated in one day

Health Minister Vili Beroš on Friday tweeted that for the first time 20,000 people got shots against coronavirus in one day.

“We are at a turning point in the implementation of the vaccine rollout plan. The mobilisation of all services has resulted in more than 20,000 people being inoculated in one day. At that rate, by the end of June we will have reached our aim of vaccinating 50% of the population,” Beroš wrote on his Twitter account.

The minister added that there was sufficient supplies of vaccines against COVID-19.

“We have sufficient doses of all vaccines and it is up to us to use them and preserve our health,” said Beroš.

Epidemic peaking

Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) director Krunoslav Capak said on Friday Croatia was at the peak of the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic and that he expected the number of new cases to start falling, but not the number of hospitalisations yet.

Croatia registered 2,529 new cases and 46 deaths on Friday. here are 2,227 COVID patients in hospital, 221 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the start of the epidemic, 318,837 people have contracted coronavirus, 6,784 of them have died, while 295,885 have recovered, including 2,431 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 34,660 people in self-isolation, and the number of active cases in Croatia stands at 16,168.

To date, 1,743,017 people have been tested, 8,783 of whom over the past 24 hours.