ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - Zagreb's University Hospital Centre (KBC) has been awarded the Ocar of Medicine for its outstanding achievement in medicine and outstanding efforts by medical staff at the Women's Hospital in taking care of patients, particularly premature babies during a strong earthquake in Zagreb in March.

With their selfless efforts medical staff and volunteers managed to transfer premature babies in incubators and their mothers to safety, it was said during the presentation ceremony.

The medical staff at the hospital were honoured for their expertise, organisation skills and huge solidarity shown.

International Medis Awards, better known as the Oscar of Medicine, have been given for seven years to the best doctors and pharmaceutical researchers for their work and achievements.

The KBC Zagreb also received a donation from the Medis pharmaceutical company, namely a device for UV-C decontamination of surfaces, which came just in time during the coronavirus pandemic.

The head of the neonatal ward in the Petrova Women's Hospital, Mirta Starcevic, recalled that there were 26 premature babies in the hospital when the earthquake struck on March 22, eight of them weighing less than 1.5 kilograms.

"That night a premature baby weighing 1,500 grams was born with numerous complications. When the earthquake struck we had to evacuate the building and the biggest problem was how to maintain the children's body temperature. All the doctors who were not on duty that day immediately came to the hospital. I have to say that the situation resembled a proper war zone. The thing that we are most proud of and pleased with is that we did not lose any of the babies in those circumstances, which is absolutely unbelievable," nurse Starcevic said.

The International Media Awards are annual awards presented for the best research by doctors and pharmacists in nine countries: Croatia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Hungary, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.

December 11, 2020 - Great news for Croatia, as Porec has been confirmed to host the 2021 European Karate Championships, which will bring karate fighters from 52 countries to the Istrian town. 

HRT reports that Croatia will host the 56th European Karate Championships from May 19 to 23, 2021, in Porec.

This has been confirmed by EKF, the European Karate Federation, which opted for Croatia in the competition of sixteen other candidates. According to the earlier schedule, the European Championships were supposed to be held in Gothenburg. However, after Sweden's withdrawal, the Croatian offer was chosen, so the best European karate fighters will fight for medals in Croatia for the first time since Zagreb in 2009.

Representatives of 52 countries are expected to participate in the European Championships in Porec, and this will also be the last qualifying competition for a spot at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

"We are thrilled and proud to have received the trust to host the 56th European Senior Championships, a tournament that should be held next year, from May 19-23. It will definitely be one of the biggest and most important sporting events in Croatia in 2021. The elite of senior karate will come to Porec. There will be competitors who will qualify for the Olympics, and some of them will be winners of Olympic medals. Moving on, it’s not time to celebrate. We have a few months left to prepare everything for Croatia, Porec, and the "Žatika" sports hall to host 52 countries participating in the European Karate Championship,"  said the president of the Croatian Karate Federation, Davor Cipek.

During the five-day championship, the European Championships in para karate will be traditionally held, and the EKF Election Congress, where ten new members of the Executive Board of the European Karate Federation will be elected for the next period.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 11, 2020 – On the occasion of International Mountain Day, which is marked worldwide today, the Croatian Mountaineering Association, WWF Adria, and Parks Dinarides called for mountain biodiversity preservation.

Biodiversity is the theme of this year's International Mountain Day, which is being celebrated around the world today. The UN General Assembly proclaimed this day in 2002 to highlight mountains' significance for nature and people.

Croatian mountains perfect for hiking

The Croatian Mountaineering Association, the largest Croatian association, dedicated to environmental protection, points out that we should not forget that the Croatian mountains are unique in the world precisely because of their great diversity in a small area.

"The tallest Croatian mountains belong to the Dinaric mountains, and ecologically extremely sensitive karst relief is what characterizes them. They stretch in a northwest-southeast direction, along the Adriatic coast in several parallel rows, starting with the island mountains.

Unlike the Dinarides, the Pannonian and Peripannonian mountains are mostly old geological structures, with milder slopes, relatively low, and rich in water and vegetation. Their direction of stretching is not unique, but nowhere does it coincide with the Dinaric. They are characterized by the abundance of watercourses that have cut deep valleys over the centuries and thus created a colorful relief.

Due to the low altitude compared to the world's highlands, most of the Croatian peaks are relatively easily accessible for mountaineering, which makes the Croatian mountains very suitable, practically ideal for hiking," wrote the Croatian Mountaineering Association.

Velebit, the biggest Croatian mountain / Copyright Romulić and Stojčić

Croatian karst richness

Every year, the Croatian Mountaineering Association celebrates International Mountain Day with various actions. Still, since larger gatherings are not possible this year, they mark this day by publishing posters with messages and slogans of mountaineers on the topic "Do not leave a trace."

Next year will be the International Year of Caves and Karst, and the Croatian Mountaineering Association announces that it will mark it with a series of speleological, ecological, and promotional actions aimed at emphasizing the need for better protection of caves and karst.

In terms of karst richness, including numerous caves and pits, Croatia is among the most interesting and richest countries in Europe.

Biokovo mountain / Copyright Romulić and Stojčić

Mountain-specific policies

World Wide Fund for Nature Adria (WWF Adria) and Parks Dinarides also called on the public to preserve mountain biodiversity. At the conference about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on protected areas, they highlighted the sensitivity of protected areas in situations where tourism is impossible.

They emphasized that mountain biodiversity is threatened by climate change, unsustainable agriculture, mineral exploitation, deforestation, poaching, land conversion, and over-construction.

In addition to natural disasters, all this leads to a fragile and unstable environment for local communities. The most significant consequences are marginalized groups, such as communities in rural mountainous areas, who often leave their homes due to a lack of economic development opportunities. Therefore, they pointed out that one recommendation is to include mountain-specific policies in national sustainable development strategies.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) director Krunoslav Capak has said that the number of new coronavirus infections is still high, as is incidence, and that more than 50% of employees of care homes and their residents as well as medical workers want to get vaccinated.

"Our figures are still high and they differ from county to county. Varazdin County continues to have the worst statistics, with incidence being almost twice as high as the average incidence in the country," Capak said on Friday at a news conference held by the national COVID-19 response team.

The latest figures show that there are 4,396 new infections out of 11,687 tests. A week ago, on December 4, there were 3,955 infections out of 10,626 tests and a week before that, on November 27, there were 4,080 new cases out of 11,091 tests, said Capak.

The current 14-day incidence for the entire country is 1,183 per 100,000 population, while Varazdin, Medjimurje and Krapina-Zagorje counties have the highest incidence.

Istria, Dubrovnik-Neretva and Pozega-Slavonia counties have much lower incidence rates.

The only other EU country that has a higher incidence than Croatia is Luxembourg, according to Capak.

As for the mortality rate, Croatia is currently 16th in the EU, with a rate of 580.7 per one million inhabitants.

As for the share of positive tests in the total number of tests, in the last 14 days it has been 35.6%, and the total rate so far has been slightly above 23%, Capak said.

Antigen testing in Varazdin County, care homes

Capak also said that rapid antigen testing was underway in Varazdin County, that currently workers of the Calzedonia company were being tested and that of the 339 tests done, 10 had returned positive, which was a rate of less than 3%.

Testing has also started in care homes, and information on that will be provided on a weekly basis, the HZJZ head said.

As for the new criteria of the European Centre for Disease Control, according to which the results of fast antigen tests should be added to the number of confirmed infections as of December 3, Capak said that the ECDC did not pass laws.

He cited the example of Slovakia, where over a period of two weeks, two-thirds of the country's population were tested with rapid antigen tests and those results were not included in official statistics. 38,000 infections were found and daily figures ranged between 2,000 and 3,000, he said.

"Other countries act the same way as well, so this (ECDC criteria) is not a law. For the time being, we are carefully monitoring both sets of figures," Capak said.

Speaking of the relaxation of restrictions, Capak said that it was difficult to predict how the situation would develop, adding that there was no formula to calculate how cold weather and longer stay indoors would affect the figures.

He also stressed that many European counties that had announced relaxation of restrictions and opening of ski resorts had given up on such plans due to the bad epidemiological situation.

More than 50% of residents of care homes, medical workers want to get tested

As for vaccination lists, Capak said that the national COVID-19 team had requested family doctors and the HZJZ to provide them with data relevant for vaccination roll-out planning.

More than 50% of staff and residents of care homes are interested in getting vaccinated, and the situation in similar in health institutions for which data are available, Capak said.

Vaccination will be conducted according to priority, not all medical workers will be vaccinated but those who are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, notably those exposed to aerosols, said Capak.

As for the storing of vaccines, Capak said that there were no problems with that and that the entire quantity of the Pfizer vaccine can be stored at the Institute of Immunology, KBC Rebro hospital and the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, while county HZJZ branches have additional storage capacity.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - The head of the national COVID-19 response team, Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, on Friday called on citizens to refrain from visiting their friends and relatives during the coming holidays, noting that the current epidemiological restrictions would be extended beyond December 21.

Even though he announced the extension of the current regime, Bozinovic would not go into details or announce possible new measures, and when asked whether a ban on leaving one's place of residence was being considered, as had been the case in the spring, he said that the public would be informed about possible changes to the current regime on time.

He called on citizens to refrain from visiting people close to them during the coming holiday season.

"Our message for the coming holidays is that, basically, everyone should refrain from socialising and contacting people other than those who are members of their households, and that we should wish all who are dear to us the best for Christmas and the New Year by telephone or a text message," said Bozinovic, noting that there were 1.5 million households in Croatia and that socialising indoors would pose a very high epidemiological risk.

Asked why, for the sake of the nation's mental state, the COVID-19 response team was not announcing in advance when restrictions would be tightened  or relaxed, Bozinovic said that it was difficult to predict a favourable or bad course of the epidemic.

"It would not be good if we issued a message about relaxing restrictions and then had to give up on it if the epidemiological situation does not improve," he said.

Bozinovic said that the impact of all existing restrictions was carefully considered, announcing talks with church officials for this weekend.

He recalled that the new, tighter epidemiological measures for shops and shopping centres would go into force on Saturday.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - German Ambassador Robert Klinke on Thursday presented Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic with a German donation of ten vans and ten other vehicles for the Croatian border police worth €835,000.

"Since 2000, the German Federal Foreign Ministry has donated to Croatian police €3.1 million worth of material and technical means, and we are grateful for that," Bozinovic said, adding that Germany was among those most familiar with the work of the Croatian border police.

He said German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and the German government had publicly said a number of times that they were grateful for everything Croatian police were doing to protect the Croatian border, the EU's longest external order, first and foremost in preventing illegal migrations.

"If Croatian police did not prevent illegal migrations so efficiently, they would spill further into EU territory all the way to Germany," Bozinovic said.

He said statistics indicated that the pressure of illegal migration on Croatia was constant, "clearly showing that this year, despite a two-month calm during the global spring lockdown, the migrant wave has intensified so much that it is now 42% bigger than a year ago."

Ambassador Klinke said the Croatian border, also the EU's external border, was under big migrant pressures, notably the land border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We are here today to make sure that Croatian police can fulfil their responsible tasks appropriately. We wish to contribute so that Croatian police can move freely on the terrain they work on, and it's very important that they act on their terrain under Croatian, European and international law," he said, wishing for further cooperation on the bilateral front and within the EU.

The donated vehicles will contribute to mobility, effectiveness and terrain coverage in border surveillance, notably on inaccessible terrain and during migrant rescues, the Interior Ministry said, adding that they would also help to curb illegal migration and smuggling.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - The interior ministers, Davor Bozinovic of Croatia and Ales Hojs of Slovenia, on Thursday held a video meeting on illegal migrants and the protection of border as well as on the regime of cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slovenian New Agency STA reported.

The minister agreed on seeking solutions for making it impossible for irregular migrants to cross borders illegally, the STA quoted the Slovenian interior ministry's statement as reading.

They assessed the cooperation between the two ministries and the countries' police forces as good, adding that the operationally and strategically the cooperation has been recently focused on anti-COVID restrictions and illegal border crossings.

The ministers agreed on the preparation of the system for registering information on the entries/departures and refusal of the entry for citizens from third countries, that is non-European Union members, at the Schengen border.

Hojs expressed dissatisfaction with a high number of illegal entries  at the Croatia-Slovenia border, which prompted the Croatian minister to point to a high number of illegal  migrants in Bosnia's areas near its border with Croatia, who are trying to reach destinations in western and northern Europe.

The two ministers pledged to seek a solution to this issue, Slovenia's media utlets reported.

ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - The Health Ministry plans to advertise the call for bids for medical helicopters on 10 March 2021 so that it will establish air ambulance services by the beginning of the next summer, the Vecernji List daily reported on Friday.

The establishment of the air ambulance services the acronym of which in Croatian is HHMS will be on 1 July, and the HHMS will have four bases: in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Osijek.

The project is estimated at 18 million euros, and the contract for that purpose will be signed with the provider of of medical helicopters for next three years.

HHMS medical transport will be made available around the clock. The cost will be estimated based on 4,500 hours of flights.

The bidders are expected to provide the ministry with the appropriate medical helicopters and pilots, whereas the ministry will assign the medical staff, that is doctors, nurses and technicians for this service.

Helicopters are expected to have the state-of-the-art equipment, no older than two years.