Increasing numbers of non-vaccinated Covid patients from younger age groups are now getting hospitalized, Croatia's Health Minister, Vili Beros, told other members of the cabinet on Thursday in a government session.

According to Beros, the average age of Covid patients who require hospital care in the current increase of cases is six years lower compared to the previous surge six months ago, and the average age of patients placed on ventilators has dropped from 69 to 64 years, Beros said.

He added that 94 percent of Covid patients on ventilators had not been vaccinated against the disease.  In the last nine days, since 1 September, 5,360 new cases have been registered, and 81 percent of these patients were not vaccinated against Covid. From 30 August to 5 September, 16.6 percent of new cases were children, mainly those aged 15-18.

Beros said that the overall costs of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic has now climbed to 3 billion kuna (€400 million). This includes the 1.17 billion kuna (€156 million) cost of treatment for Covid patients, “which is equivalent to the cost of building a new hospital at Susak in Rijeka,” Beros said.