From Tuesday, December 22 to January 8, 2021, travel between counties will be possible only with the possession of special passes. Unlike the first wave of the pandemic, this time the conditions for obtaining passes will be much more restrictive and it will not be easy to get a permit without a specific and urgent reason, reports Jutarnji list.
All counties, except the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County, will be separated, and daily migrations of persons working in other counties will be allowed, but only if there is no possibility to do this work from home. Also, it will be allowed to pass all emergency operational services, which are essential for the vital functioning of society, such as water supply and sewerage, security services, supply of medicines, as well as people needing medical care. All those who will ask for passes will do so through the e-citizen service, but warn that they will be difficult to obtain. Also, there will no longer be opportunities for companies to request passes for employees, as was done in the first lockdown.
These special passes were first introduced on March 23 and were in force until May 11. In the first ten days, the measure was strictly enforced until complaints began to arrive from all levels of local government that such restrictions in some parts of the country practically barred people from leaving the doorstep. In the first 20 days, about 860,000 citizens received passes, and only 7,000 applications were rejected. In the end, more than a million passes were issued.
For inter-county trips from December 22 to January 8, citizens will have to have passes, the issuance of which will be subject to much more rigorous rules during the holidays than during the first wave of the pandemic.
Jutarnji list reports that these new passes will only be issued in extraordinary circumstances and to people who travel for work, but only if they cannot do that work from home.
Paid travel arrangements for pre-rented apartments for Christmas and New Year will not be a reason to issue passes.
