ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman confirmed on Wednesday that four female employees at the ministry had coronavirus, saying he was tested before meeting his Slovenian counterpart yesterday and that he was negative.

Speaking to the press, he told that two ministry staff were positive on Saturday and that now they were four. "We have disinfected the whole ministry and everyone who was in close contact with those infected is self-isolating... We are in touch with epidemiologists, following their directions."

The minister said he had not been in contact with the four staffers. He said he was tested yesterday morning and that he was negative.

I called the Slovenian foreign minister, with whom I met yesterday, when I went to get tested, and I also told him the results so as to avoid any doubts, he added.

As for the source of the infection in the ministry, Grlic Radman said a female employee might have contracted the virus at a place where there were a number of people.

SDP MP says Foreign Ministry new coronavirus hotspot

Earlier on Wednesday MP Domagoj Hajdukovic of the Social Democratic Party said that the Foreign Ministry was a new coronavirus hotspot, with six persons infected.

"According to my information, we have a new infection hotspot, the ministry. The first case was recorded at the end of last week in the ministry's secretariat. New infections have been confirmed today, six in all," he said in parliament.

Hajdukovic said quite a few people were ordered to self-isolate and asked Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, who was in the chamber, if he had been in contact with them and if he was tested.

MP speculates that Bosnia may have been source of infection for ministry employees

As for a possible source of infection, he said "many people from the ministry were helping out" with the vote in Croatia's July 5 parliamentary election in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Did the infection come from there? Were there safety breaches? Were those people tested and kept in self-isolation when they came back?"

ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Of 1,632 tests for COVID-19 performed in Croatia in the last 24 hours, 71 have returned positive, and currently there are 754 active cases of the infection in the country, according to the coronavirus tracker presented on Wednesday by the national COVID-19 crisis management team.

Presenting the data, Health Minister Vili Beros said that a declining trajectory of active cases was noticeable since last week.

In the last 24 hours, a man aged 79 who had underlining health conditions, died due to infection-related complications in the Osijek hospital. Since the outbreak of the disease, 141 people have died due to COVID-19 complications.

Currently there are 132 coronavirus patients in hospitals, and eight of them are placed on ventilators.

The average age of infected persons is 46.9 years.

Since 25 February when Croatia reported its first confirmed case of the infection with the virus, 115,722 tests have been taken, and 4,993 have returned positive. The percentage of positive cases is 4.32% 

ZAGREB, July 28, 2020 - There have been 41 newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients in Croatia in the last 24 hours, and the COVID-19 tracker shows that there are 749 active cases in the country, the national COVID-19 crisis response team reported on Tuesday.

One more person has died due to the complications caused by the coronavirus infection, bringing the death toll to 140.

There are 133 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including nine placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February when Croatia reported its first confirmed case of the infection with the virus, 4,923 people have tested positive, and of them, 4,034 have recovered fully.

To date, 114,090 tests have been performed, including 1,256 in the last 24 hours.

As many as 2,915 people are self-isolating.

ZAGREB, July 28, 2020 - The ombudsman for persons with disabilities said on Tuesday that in the "new normal" care home resents should be allowed freedom of movement and that it was inhumane to expect them to live in self-isolation until further notice.

Under Croatian Institute of Public Health directions in force since mid-March, all residents are banned from leaving care home premises, Anka Slonjsak said in a press release.

Under the directions, the entire burden of preventing the spread of coronavirus has been imposed solely on care home residents, she added.

Slonjsak said she had been warning the authorities since May about multiple violations of care home residents' human rights. She said they were complaining in public that the restriction of free movement over the past four months deprived them of a fundamental human right, affecting their mental and physical well-being.

Slonjsak said care home staff, when they were not at work, went to potentially risky places without restriction or control.

She asked why the measures being applied to staff, such as measuring their temperature when they came to work, periodic testing, physical distancing and protective gear, could not be applied to residents who requested it.

Slonjsak said epidemiologists must find solutions to allow residents freedom of movement outside the home.

Although the epidemiological situation is a big challenge and responsibility for the authorities, the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms must not be ruled out without considering less aggravating possibilities for achieving the same goal, she said.

ZAGREB, July 28, 2020 - In the autumn all students will go to school and only schools and classes in which there is a coronavirus outbreak will be closed, Jutarnji List daily said on Tuesday.

The new minister of education and science, Radovan Fuchs, has begun his term with intensive preparations for organising teaching in schools and at faculties as of this autumn, the paper said.

Several consultations with the stakeholders in the system were held this past weekend and this week Fuchs plans to include as many people as possible in the talks on the subject, such as representatives of the education system, central logistical computer networks, epidemiologists, the national COVID response team, and unions.

"The priority is the return of all pupils and students to classrooms as of the new school and academic year. Naturally, everything depends on the epidemiological situation which no one can predict at the moment, but we absolutely want everyone to be in school as much as possible, with all safety measures in place," the ministry said on a point Fuchs defined as key, a point he said should be worked out in as much detail as possible by the start of the school year.

Fuchs is not in favour of a lockdown, so as of this autumn protection measures could be enforced locally, the daily said. For example, if there is a virus outbreak in a certain area, not all schools in the country would be closed, only a class, school, town or county would self-isolate, depending on epidemiologists' assessment.

In that case, with measures applying to such a small number of students, central IT centres would be consulted to organise distance teaching, the paper said.

July 28, 2020 - The head of the Istria County Civil Protection Headquarters, Dino Kozlevac, said on Monday in Pazin that there are almost 200,000 tourists in Istria, a total of almost 400,000 people, so there is a high probability of a stronger spread of the coronavirus, but that the system works flawlessly.

"There are almost 400,000 people in Istria currently. There is a high probability that the virus may spread even more strongly, but for now, the system is functioning flawlessly," Kozlevac said at a session of the Istrian County Assembly, as reported by Glas Istre.

He added that the situation is changing from day to day, which is why certain decisions were made on easing measures for the economy and tourism to the satisfaction of citizens, and that, given the new dynamics of the pandemic, preparations for autumn and winter have begun.

"All decisions of the County Civil Protection Headquarters are evaluated and made in agreement and cooperation with the prefect, mayors and chiefs. Although such information was leaked to the public, there were no breakthroughs in the health system. We are ready for worse situations because our system is complex," said Kozlevac.

The director of the Institute of Public Health of Istria County, Aleksandar Stojanovic, informed the county councilors that there are currently 110 people positive for the coronavirus in Istria and that 316 people are under self-isolation measures.

"Due to the milder clinical picture of patients, not all COVID-positive people are currently hospitalized. Asymptomatic people are treated at home, i.e., at-home treatment," said Stojanovic, adding that the system has recently been opened and that, accordingly, a large number of people, local and foreign, are moving through Istria County, which increases the risk of spreading the infection.

"Currently, the largest number of newly infected people come from the area of Umag, Buzet and Labin, and large gatherings are still our biggest problem. Based on daily reports, it can be seen that Istria County conducts a wide number of tests, i.e., that every fifth person tested in Croatia is from Istria. The tourism sector has calmed because, as far as new patients are concerned, a small number of infected tourists have been identified," Stojanovic concluded.

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July 28, 2020 - Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, was a guest on HTV's Dnevnik and said that intensive efforts were being made to limit gatherings from the autumn.

"We hope that the trend will be downward, we have already announced that the last week was downward, although we had a few peaks that bounced back from the average figure. We expect this trend to continue downward. This does not mean that we will have 10 cases tomorrow, but the trend will, in any case, be downward according to our research and model," said Krunoslav Capak on 24 Sata.

Capak says this is a continuation of the first wave or tail of the epidemic.

"We have relaxed measures. Quarantine is excellent because it drastically reduces the transmission of coronavirus infection. However, when we started to relax the measures, the corona was economically and psychologically unsustainable, and with the relaxation of the measures it happened to us that the tail of the epidemic returned and that we have a larger number of infected," said Krunoslav Capak.

"Intensive consideration is being given to limiting gatherings from the autumn"

Krunsolav Capak points out that we have to get used to coexisting with the virus.

"We think that these figures are not excessive; we would like them to be less. We have to get used to the coronavirus being here. We need to learn the new normal; we need to work intensively on reduction. We do not intend to return the quarantine, nor anyone in the world," said Capak.

"Intensive thinking is being done to limit gatherings from the fall. Slovenia has a limit of 50. We had an excellent situation and we wanted to liberate the economy and social circumstances. We will not reduce that number now, but by prescribing stricter measures, by reporting gatherings where there are more than 100 people to the Civil Protection, which are then subject to the supervision of civil protection inspectors, we tried to put things in order," he added.

Measures for the Operation Storm Celebration

"We are in contact with the organizers and there was a meeting today. Definite decisions, figures and ways of maintaining it have not been made, but we have a framework. According to the measures we have prescribed, we hope that this will be a low-risk event. There will be far fewer people and side events, food and drink consumption," Capak said.

Self-isolation and politicians

"When determining self-isolation, it is important for a person to assess the situation. Assess what the nature of the contact was and whether or not there is a risk of transmitting the infection. There are certain circumstances in which a person who is in self-isolation can be allowed to perform a certain activity. Hrebak asked for testing and that finding needs to be analyzed; he got the opinion. I did not tell him to go to the session, but that he was not contagious," said Krunoslav Capak.

Criticism of President Zoran Milanovic on the decisions of the Headquarters

"I'm not a legal expert or a doctor. In the past, whenever there was a danger of infecting other people, we made decisions based on the laws passed by the Parliament. This is also the case with this Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, which was passed in the Parliament, and we are guided by it in making decisions," said Capak.

"The goal of our decisions that we make is to protect the lives of citizens," concluded Capak.

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ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - Homeland Movement MP Milan Vrkljan said on Monday the current COVID-19 response team should be dissolved.

"We agree with the president of the republic that it's a para-body, a body outside the constitution and the law and that it was established in the interest of a very small, narrow group of people covered by party affiliation," he told press.

As for the establishment of a new team, Vrkljan said the parliamentary health committee should discuss the issue and propose to the government how a new team should be established.

He said the team should be relieved of any politics as soon as possible and be left up to experts, and that everyone in Croatia who could and should say something should be involved in its work. "That's definitely not just doctors who are members of the HDZ."

Grmoja: Parliament should examine COVID-19 response team's activity

MP Nikola Grmoja of the Bridge party said parliament should "definitely" examine the activity of the team which had lost all credibility.

He said the case of HSLS MP Dario Hrebak showed that "if you are close enough to those in power, you don't have to self-isolate if you are needed for the parliamentary majority."

Grmoja said the team was compromised by the fact that its key members were candidates in the recent parliamentary election, and that Bridge agreed with President Zoran Milanovic's assessment of the team.

"Bridge was the first not to give the team those powers," he said, adding that the current team might be dissolved.

"It's possible, but that would require the goodwill and the political will of the prime minister to include in the team's work people who will be proposed by all parliamentary parties," Grmoja said.

He added, however, that those in power would refuse "because the team was their key lever in the election campaign and the election victory and they will keep it that way, but they will also bear the consequences."

President Zoran Milanovic said on Sunday that the national COVID-19 response team was not legally established and that it needed authority for the decisions it was making, and that parliament should play a key part in that.

"I warned the prime minister that people will sue the state because the decisions aren't legally founded. That team is a para-body. The Constitutional Court will have to decide on that."

ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - In the last 24 hours there have been 24 new cases of infection with coronavirus in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis response team said on Monday.

There are now 807 active cases in the country, of whom 138 are being treated in hospitals, including nine on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, three people previously diagnosed with this infectious disease have died, thus bringing the death toll to 139.

Since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Croatia on 25 February, a total of 4,881 people have been diagnosed with this disease, and 3,936 have recovered.

Currently, there are 3,112 people who are self-isolating at home.

To date, 112,834 tests have been conducted, including 831 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - The government has responded to President Zoran Milanovic's statement that the national coronavirus crisis response team is a "paraconstitutional" body, saying that the decisions by the team are not constitutionally questionable and that it is odd that he wants the new virus to be accepted like tooth decay.

"It is odd that the President of the Republic wants us to accept the coronavirus like tooth decay while at the same time calling for the declaration of a state of emergency, i.e. activation of Article 17 of the Constitution. The decisions made by the national coronavirus crisis response team are not constitutionally questionable or political. They are made based on guidance from medical professionals and their primary aim is to protect the lives and health of our citizens," the N1 television channel published the government's response on Sunday evening after President Zoran Milanovic's appearance in its current affairs programme earlier in the day.

The government recalled that the legal basis for the crisis response team's decisions was the law on the protection of the population from contagious diseases, the civil protection law and Article 16 of the Constitution.

The restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus and protect human life were proportionate and well balanced, which is also in accordance with the Constitution, the government said.

"The team will continue to do their work responsibly and efficiently and prepare new measures to contain the spread of the infection, while further monitoring the development of the epidemiological situation," the government said in its response.

N1 said that the Constitutional Court declined to comment on Milanovic's statement.

In the interview, Milanovic said that war was not the only state of emergency. "Is the situation we are now living in normal and usual? Of course, it is not. War is not the only state of emergency. This is a natural and economic disaster and it is on this ground that we are having our rights restricted. At first, they are absolute, but you cannot live in a community where your rights are absolute and your obligations non-existent," the president said.

He also commented on the role of the national coronavirus crisis response team. "It is not normal that a group of people who have not been elected by the people should decide how many people are allowed to attend a wedding celebration. I am in favour of taking an initial decision by a two-thirds majority. The government needs a power of attorney for how many people can attend a wedding celebration and I would give it to it if I could."