September 24, 2020 - Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros confirmed a downward COVID-19 trend in Croatia, while he is worried about the state of Delnice as a new hotspot.

Index.hr reports that Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday ahead of the government session that epidemiological data still indicate a downward trend in the number of people infected with the coronavirus, while data on 266 people in hospital show no signs of overloading the health system.

Beros: There are no signs of overloading the health care system; I am worried about the jump in the number of patients in Delnice

"Today we have 232 infected; if we compare with last Thursday, when there were 250, it is still less. Last Thursday, there were 291, so the trend still shows a decline. Today, 266 people are hospitalized, 23 were admitted, and 30 were discharged, and still, there are no indications of overloading the health care system," Beros told reporters in front of Banski dvori.

However, he is worried about the jump in the number of patients in Delnice, among the users of the elderly home.

"This is what we say all the time, to monitor the epidemiological situation and to try to respond to any such micro-hotspots with adequate epidemiological measures," Beros said.

Minister Beros also spoke about the current situation with coronavirus at the government session.

Namely, Beros also told a government session that the number of people infected with the coronavirus had fallen for the third week in a row, while the rate of new infections had fallen by 5.2 percent in the past seven days.

"In Croatia, the number of newly infected people has fallen every week for the third week in a row. The rate of newly infected people in the last seven days is lower by 5.2 percent compared to the previous week," Beros said.

Of the total number of hospitalized, 9.71 percent are on a ventilator, up 1.71 percent from last week. The percentage of deaths relative to the number infected since the beginning of the epidemic is 1.68 percent.

With the arrival of autumn, the number of respiratory infections increases, so Beros called on citizens to adhere to epidemiological measures and timely vaccination against respiratory infections as the most effective prevention measures.

Current COVID-19 data in Croatia

There are currently 1,200 active patients with COVID-19 in Croatia, and 266 patients are in hospital.

In the past week, 219 patients were admitted, 23 were placed on a ventilator, and 223 patients were discharged. The average age of the infected is 49.2 years.

In the past week, 73 new coronavirus cases have been reported among healthcare workers, and 426 employees are in self-isolation.

Beros reported that the guidelines had been revised to shorten the isolation time for asymptomatic individuals. Thus, those with a mild or moderate clinical picture will now self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days.

Also, health care institutions should not condition the admission of patients who require hospitalization or conduct diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with a negative PCR test not older than 48 hours, especially in emergencies or when the delay may cause health deterioration. Recommendations were forwarded to family physicians and pediatricians.

The directors of hospitals have been informed that to reduce the waiting list for certain services, when issuing approvals for additional work, doctors consider the performed obligations in the home institution, said Beros.

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ZAGREB, Sept 24, 2020 - Over the last 24 hours, of 5,351 tests performed for coronavirus, Croatia reported 232 new cases and four more COVID patients have died, while there are currently 1,200 active cases, the national COVID-19 management team said on Thursday.

There are 266 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 24 who are on ventilators.

In the past 24 hours, 296 people have recovered. Currently, 9,329 people are self-isolating.

Since February 25, when the first case of the infection was registered in Croatia, a total of 15,572 people have contracted the disease, 261 have died and 14,111 have recovered.

To date, 279,035 people have undergone coronavirus testing.

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ZAGREB, Sept 23, 2020 - Over the last 24 hours, there have been 204 new cases of the coronavirus infection and two deaths, and the number of active cases in Croatia stands at 1,268, the national COVID-19 management team said on Wednesday.

There are 278 COVID patients in hospitals, including 27 who are on ventilators. In the past 24 hours, a total of 6,387 tests have been performed and 828 people have recovered.

Currently, 9,314 people are self-isolating.

Since February 25, when the first case of the infection was registered in Croatia, a total of 15,340 people have contracted the disease, 257 have died and 13,815 have recovered.

To date, 273,684 people have been tested for coronavirus.

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September 23, 2020 - The director of the Croatian National Institue of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, was a guest on Dnevnik Nova TV, where he spoke about when there would be herd immunity in Croatia, but also how many people have come into contact with COVID-19 in the country so far.

He says about 400,000 people have been in contact with the coronavirus

Capak said that serology tests during the spring showed that the number of those who came in contact with the coronavirus was 25 to 30 times higher than the number of those infected, i.e., those whose PCR test confirmed they were infected with the coronavirus. "About 400,000 people in Croatia have probably come into contact with the coronavirus," he said, adding that serology tests would be repeated.

Herd immunity only in the middle of next year

He added that herd immunity in Croatia could be achieved only in the middle of next year, i.e., when more than 50 percent of the population comes into contact with the coronavirus.

The sensitivity of PCR tests

He commented on the sensitivity of tests that detect coronavirus even in those cases where the virus is present in a very small amount, and the person is not contagious.

Capak says that the amount needed to detect the virus in infected people has been intensively researched lately.

"The problem is that it can be different with different PCR methods. Also, it significantly depends on the method and quality of sampling," he explained.

He also assessed that the situation in schools is good so far. "If we manage to maintain this pace of teaching, everything will be fine by the end of the school year," he concluded.

What does it mean when a person dies of COVID-19 but had numerous comorbidities?

He also explained what it means if a person died from COVID-19 but had numerous comorbidities.

"Certainly, the severity and length of the virus have an impact on the occurrence of those most severe forms of the virus. It can also be hypertension, which is a disease in itself, but is a factor in developing cardiovascular diseases. It doesn’t have to be some serious illness, but it is comorbidity. The duration of the illness certainly has an impact on the clinical picture, and even the outcome of the illness itself," he told Dnevnik.hr.

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September 22, 2020 - For six consecutive weeks this summer, the Martinska venue alone welcomed over 10, 000 international visitors to its music festivals in Sibenik. Zero cases of Coronavirus occurred.

Over recent years, three things have firmly placed Croatia on the international stage – Game Of Thrones, the World Cup and music festivals. Running for over a decade now, music festivals are the oldest of these. They have elevated places like Pula and Tisno to become among the most-Googled destinations in the country.

So popular now are Croatia music festivals, that many say the summer season of music festivals in Croatia has supplanted the famous hedonistic holidays of Ibiza as the hippest place to go. Incredible disappointment was therefore felt by tens of thousands of expectant party people earlier this year when most of the international Croatia music festivals decided to cancel their 2020 events. They did so in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

One venue stood alone – Martinska, a 20-year-old site for music festivals in Sibenik. Over six consecutive weeks, all of their 2020 festivals took place. They did so under strict adherence to epidemiological guidelines. And, following a wait of two weeks after the final event (to cover any potential Coronavirus incubation period), site organisers Pozitivan Ritam have released their results - zero cases of Coronavirus.

“It's not only the five festivals and one concert event that we did,” Pozitivan Ritam director Vedran Meniga told TCN, “The Fortress of Culture in Sibenik had more than 30 events this summer and Project Vojarna in Sibenik had two parties this year with over 4000 people. On one RTL television show, they described Sibenik as the Croatian Wuhan when 3000 people were in the town for one techno party there. But, at the end of the season, none of these events resulted in a single Coronavirus infection. Not one.”

Following a successful lockdown earlier in the year, cases of Coronavirus were limited in Croatia at the start of the season. Yet, some were understandably hesitant to come. Music festivals in Sibenik still managed to attract visitors from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany to Martinska. Even after the middle of August when cases began to appear in other regions and international visitor numbers dried up, the festival site was still busy with Croatians and partygoers from near-neighbouring countries. At the end of August, there were no more than five infected persons in Sibenik. None were music festival or music event attendees. Throughout much of the summer, Sibenik recorded zero cases.

“The music festivals in Sibenik are proof that it's possible to work doing events during the era of Corona,” Meniga tells TCN. “Of course, all of our events were open-air and no doubt that helped.”

"When cases started to reappear elsewhere at the end of July, I went to the civil authorities and epidemiologists immediately, before they came to us,” says Vedran. “The civil authorities and the police grant the license for the events. I presented them with a plan and they were satisfied. They allowed us to continue.”

“It helped that Martinska is across the bay from Sibenik. Festival attendees don't even need to go into the town to come, they drive here straight from the Magistrala (Croatian coastal highway). Also, Martinska's capacity is five times bigger than the numbers we were going to cater for. The site can accommodate six to seven thousand. We expected no more than 1500 daily. That was more than enough space to maintain physical distance. We carefully took all contact details for each attendee at the entrance, in case something appeared and we (or authorities) had to later contact people. We also took everyone's temperature. And in addition to the required epidemiological sanitization, we also installed disinfectant pillars at every single point where money or goods exchanged hands. All our staff wore not only masks but also gloves. Four times the civil authorities made surprise visits to the site for inspection along with epidemiologists and police. Each time they were completely satisfied.”

Current forecasts for the Coronavirus response predict that a vaccine will not be available to cover everyone until the autumn of 2021. This has serious implications for at least one more tourist season. Yet, with the incredible achievements seen this summer at Martinska's music festivals in Sibenik, we can all take hope that events, tourism, and even life itself may continue to be enjoyed in the near future, as long as we're all smart about it.



All photos 2020 Martinska © Seasplash / Pozitivan Ritam. 

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ZAGREB, September 22, 2020 - In the past 24 hours, 144 new cases of the coronavirus were detected in Croatia and two people have died, while the number of active cases is 1,894, the national civil protection authority said on Tuesday.

A total of 278 patients are in hospital treatment, with 24 on ventilators.

In the past 24 hours, 250 people have recovered and 5,165 have been tested, while there are 9,822 in self-isolation at the moment.

Since 25 February when the first case of the disease was detected in Croatia, there have been a total of 15,136 cases of the coronavirus registered, 255 of the patients have died, and a total of 12,987 people have recovered.

To date a total of 267,297 tests for Covid-19 have been conducted.

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September 21, 2020 - As a guest on N1 television, the Director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health Krunoslav Capak announced three new rules for testing and isolation.  

Index.hr reports that Capak commented on the current situation with the coronavirus epidemic in Croatia and, among other things, outlined the priorities for testing and revealed the criteria for breaking isolation.

The document is ready; what is changing?

"Isolation will last 10 days. So far, we have had 14 days. The latest data show that a person has significantly lower infectivity after the seventh day. After day 10, the person is not contagious. There is no need to be in isolation for more than 10 days. If they did not have a temperature and symptoms in 24 hours, they can come out of isolation. The exception is severe cases.

As for the testing criteria, they do not change significantly, except that we have introduced pupils and students in dormitories and those who go to schools and colleges of the medical type, who will be treated as the medical staff.

The third important news is that so far, a positive person, a person who has proven confirmation that they have overcome the disease, does not have to go into self-isolation for three months even if they are in contact with an infected person.

Priority groups for testing are the elderly and those who work with them."

Will there be new measures?

"Today, we had 70 new cases, that is not a realistic number. We have fewer cases on Mondays because there are fewer tests on weekends. The number will surely be higher tomorrow. We have had a downward trend for two weeks now, and hopefully, it will continue."

The situation in counties

"There are no significant hotspots, this weekend we had the Gay Pride Parade and Vinkovci Autumn Festival, these are events that need to be followed."

Can you determine the sources of infection with certainty?

"It is usually easy to determine the source of the infection; in some 10 percent, we cannot know it immediately, but it is determined over time. In 90 percent of cases, we manage to find out the source of the infection. It is very difficult to determine if a person became infected in a club or restaurant.

Risky gatherings are weddings, family gatherings, and public gatherings."

About the fatalities

"At one time, at the end of August, we had several new cases. It takes time for a more severe form of the disease to develop and for a person to go on a ventilator and for a negative outcome to occur. Mortality and death always accompany new cases for three to four weeks. We now pay tribute to several patients during August.

People who are hospitalized are those who have more severe symptoms, chronic illness, or some other comorbidity. There are about 2,500 of them, and since the beginning of the epidemic until today, slightly less than 10 percent of those seriously ill have died."

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ZAGREB, September 21, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours 70 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia, bringing the number of active cases to 2,002, and five persons have died, the national COVID response team said on Monday.

Currently 297 patients are hospitalised, including 24 on ventilators, and 9,159 persons are self-isolating.

Over the past 24 hours, 3,296 persons have been tested for the virus and 201 patients have recovered. To date 262,132 persons have been tested.

Since February 25, when the first case of infection was recorded in Croatia, 14,992 persons have been infected with coronavirus, 253 of whom have died, while 12,737 have recovered.

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ZAGREB, September 20, 2020 - A total of 197 new cases of the coronavirus infection have been registered in the past 24 hours, four patients have died and the number of active cases now stands at 2,138, the national COVID-19 reponse team said on Sunday.

Of the total number of patients 281 are receiving hospital treatment, including 21 who are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the country, 14,922 people have contracted the disease, of whom 248 have died while 12,536 have recovered, including 183 in the last 24 hours.

Currently 9,475 people are self-isolating.

A total of 258,864 people have been tested for the virus to date, including 4,384 in the last 24 hours.

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ZAGREB, Sept 19, 2020 - In the last 24 hours, of 5,457 tests performed for coronavirus, 212 have returned positive, and there have been no COVID-related deaths, Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Saturday.

Currently, there are 2,128 active cases, and 9,714 contacts are self-isolating.

Of those active cases, 288 are receiving hospital treatment, including 24 placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February, when the first case of the disease was registered in Croatia, a total of 14,725 people have been diagnosed with this infection. Of them, 12,353 have recovered and 244 have died.

To date, Croatia's health authorities have conducted 254,480 tests for this novel virus.

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