The lion's share of COVID patients admitted to hospitals for treatment are not vaccinated, Health Minister Vili Beros warned on Thursday, urging the people once again to get vaccinated.

From August 16 to 22, of the total number of hospitalised patients, 78.7 percent were not vaccinated against coronavirus,” he said. “Hospital records show that from August 16 to 24, 86.4 percent of people who tested positive for the virus had been unvaccinated.”

These figures are clear evidence of “victory of common sense”, he said, but warned they are also a blow to the efforts by healthcare workers to encourage vaccine-hesitant people to get their jab.

“We can see accelerated increase in new case numbers, in hospitalisations and in the number of people placed on ventilators. In a week, the number of hospitalisations has increased by 46.7 percent, and the number of patients on ventilators by 72 percent,” the minister said, adding that this could pave the way for a new wave of the epidemic.

He urged the people to get vaccinated and contribute to efforts to make sure the autumn would be calm.

The minister said that the delta variant of coronavirus was fully dominant in the country.

Decisions on new epidemiological rules in coming weeks

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković also called on vaccine-hesitant people to get inoculated, especially the elderly.

Concerning anti-epidemic rules, Plenkovic said that decisions on new measures could be expected in the coming weeks.