Russian Sputnik vaccine against COVID-19 (Photo: Dejan Rakita/PIXSELL)
502 new positive coronavirus test results have been recorded over the past 24 hours, on the basis of 7 348 tests conducted in that period. This means that the positivity rate for testing stands at 6.8%. 18 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported since yesterday, while 224 people have been given a clean bill of health. Currently there are 2 219 people in Croatia with an active positive test result, of which 884 are receiving treatment in hospital. 82 patients are on ventilators.
So far Croatia has administered more than 136 thousand doses of the coronavirus vaccine, with more than 81 thousand people having been vaccinated. With EU deals for vaccine delivery coming up short, Health Minister Vili Beroš told Croatian Radio today that Croatia has agreed to cooperation with Russia for the possible delivery of the Russian made Sputnik vaccine: “I personally contacted the Russian Ambassador, and our Foreign Minister Mr. Grlić Radman contacted his Russian counterpart Mr. Lavrov, and we agreed to the possibility. What remains now is for the our regulatory agencies, and here I'm primarily thinking of the Croatian Agency for Medicines and Medicinal Products, to provide an expert opinion and evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, and to provide an extraordinary approval for its import into Croatia.”
Meanwhile, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced today that the European Union must be better prepared to deal with new variants of the coronavirus, accelerate their sequencing, help adapt existing vaccines to these new variants and speed up the approval of the most effective vaccines. To this end she announced the establishment of a European incubator that will pool data on research into the coronavirus vaccine and its adaptation in the fight against new variants of COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in Croatia, on February 25th of last year, Croatia has recorded 238 501 positive test results, of which 230 907 have since been given a clean bill of health. A total of 5 375 deaths have been reported, although the vast majority were elderly people with serious underlying health conditions. To date Croatia has tested close to 1.3 million people, and currently there are 11 050 people in self-isolation.
Source: HRT
