Currently, the BA.5 omicron variant dominates and has been confirmed in 97 percent of cases of coronavirus infection in Croatia. It causes a milder form of the disease and we don’t have many hospitalized patients. If everything stays like that, the situation will remain similar to the current one, Capak said in Croatian Radio’s Interview of the Week program.
Asked about epidemiological forecasts for autumn and winter, Capak expects that the number of patients will decrease if no new strain of the coronavirus appears, because then, he says, everything starts from scratch.
The hospital system in Croatia functions normally, and several people are lying in the infectious covid wards, said the director of the HZJZ, adding that now we have ten times fewer sick and dying from covid compared to the delta wave last year when there were around 5,000 sick and more than 50 deaths per day.
However, the number of patients is high, which indicates the continued presence of the virus in the population.
As for those vaccinated against covid, more than a thousand people are vaccinated daily, mostly with the third and fourth dose.
About 40,000 people have received the fourth dose so far, and almost a million have received the third dose. 70 percent of the adult population, or 60 percent of the total population, was vaccinated with at least one dose.
“At the EU level, it’s bad, but at the world level, it’s relatively good,” Capak said, adding that in Europe, in terms of vaccination coverage, we stand as Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts the end of the pandemic when the level of 70 percent of people vaccinated in the world is reached, and we are far from that, says Capak.
In Croatia, people can be vaccinated with the fifth dose against covid today. There is currently no recommendation for the fifth dose, but no one is prevented from being vaccinated with the fifth dose if they wish to do so.
Simultaneous vaccination against influenza and covid is possible
With regard to the beginning of the flu season, Capak points out that it is possible to be vaccinated against influenza and covid at the same time, and that the same high-quality immune response is achieved as in the case of separate vaccination against these two diseases.
At this moment, it is difficult to make predictions about how severe the flu season will be, says the director of HZJZ, adding that only 6,050 cases of flu were reported in Croatia last season.
He also pointed out that the combination of covid and flu, the so-called fluron, is not common and it is calculated that there will not be many such cases.
Masks are still mandatory in healthcare facilities, pharmacies and homes for the elderly, and the recommendation to wear a mask also exists elsewhere, where a large number of people gather and cannot keep their distance.
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