ZAGREB, Dec 14, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that it was evident that the current counter-COVID measures, which expire on 21 December, would be extended if the current high numbers of new infections were not reduced.

Additional restrictions are also on the table, Plenkovic said while chairing today's government session via video link from his home.

Commenting on the unfavourable epidemiological situation, Plenkovic underscored that in the last seven days, a total of 25,119 new cases of the infection had been registered, or 5.6% more than in the week before.

Figures about coronavirus-related deaths have also been on the rise.

Unless we manage to reduce the current high coronavirus numbers, the existing measures will be prolonged beyond 21 December, said the premier, who is in isolation after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus infection in late November.

The premier called on citizens to be aware of the demanding circumstances, noting that the measures adopted by the government and the COVID-19 crisis management team had to be complied with.

"It is clear that this year, Christmas will differ from Christmas festivities in the past. I appeal for avoidance of any bigger family gatherings, since the virus spreads most easily in such situations," he added.

ZAGREB, Dec 14, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Monday that his ministry had sent the KBC Zagreb hospital, the KB Dubrava hospital and the Hospital for Lung Diseases, also in Zagreb, an instruction to urgently take steps to increase their accommodation capacity for COVID-19 patients.

Beros said the instruction was sent in light of the current epidemiological situation and that the three hospitals would also secure additional staff and equipment.

He added that activities related to the reassignment of medical workers and equipment were ongoing, underlining the deployment of additional doctors and nurses to the hospitals in Varazdin and Cakovec.

"At the meeting with epidemiologists on December 11 we analysed the strategy for fast antigen testing in order to put hotpots under control. Today's meeting of the expert group of the COVID-19 response team discussed the need to increase the accommodation capacity of medical institutions and other current problems so as to determine steps to be taken in the coming weeks," Beros said.

He added that the distribution of 100,000 rapid antigen tests from commodity reserves to county institutes of public health had begun and that so far a total of 250,000 had been distributed.

Beros stressed that the number of COVID-19 patients who were being admitted to hospitals had grown mildly compared to last week, as had the number of new patients on ventilators.

"Even though it is resilient and sustainable in terms of organisation, the health system must be protected from maximum strain. Our main goal is to maintain, as long as possible, the centralised treatment of COVID-19 patients, that way we are reducing the possibility of the virus entering more hospitals, which will  make it possible to continue providing regular medical care," said the minister.

He reported that the number of coronavirus infections worldwide had exceeded 72,655,000 and that the number of related fatalities was above 1,619,999.

In Croatia, there are 1,430 active cases among medical workers while 807 are in self-isolation.

ZAGREB, Dec, 2020- Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ)  head Krunoslav Capak said on Monday that Croatia last week registered a twofold increase in new COVID-19 cases and that the country's epidemiological situation was the worst in the European Union.

According to Capak, from December 7 to 13, Croatia registered a 7.5% increase in the number of new infections compared to a 3.7% increase in the week before that.

The incidence rate in the entire Croatia is high, but the differences between counties are considerable, with Medjimurje County reporting the highest and Dubrovnik-Neretva County the lowest incidence rate.

We are in the last place in the EU when it comes to the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, Capak said. As for the mortality rate, we are in the 16th place of the 27 EU countries, with 628.5 deaths per a million inhabitants.

Capak also said that today people in self-isolation account for 40% of the new infections.

"This shows that the system of searching for contact has not fallen apart despite operating with difficulties due to a large number of new infections," he added.

Vaccination programme by end of week

Asked about the number of health workers that want to be vaccinated, Capak confirmed the unofficial data that slightly more than 50% of health workers want to, adding that they are still collecting data on that.

He stressed that the vaccination campaign had already started, and by the end of the week the government would adopt a vaccination programme although it was not yet known when the vaccines would arrive and be distributed.

In the coming days, science conferences on vaccination will be organised, and there will also be a media campaign.

Asked about people who will not be able to get vaccinated, the head of Zagreb's Dr Fran Mihaljevic hospital for infectious diseases, Alemka Markotic, said that that would be apply to people allergic to a vaccine ingredient.

She added that they expected there would be very few such cases and that people should get informed on their own about their allergic reactions to medicines.

Croatia reports 1,472 new coronavirus cases, 65 deaths in last 24 hours

Croatia has registered 1,472 new coronavirus cases and 65 infection-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday morning.

A total of 2,857 infected people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 and 284 of them are on ventilators. Currently, there are 22,769 active cases in the country and 54,042 people are in self-isolation.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 177,358 people have been infected with the novel virus, 2,705 of them have died and 151,884 have recovered, including 3,673 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, Dec 14, 2020 - Croatia has registered 1,472 new coronavirus cases and 65 infection-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Monday morning.

A total of 2,857 infected people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 and 284 of them are on ventilators. Currently, there are 22,769 active cases in the country and 54,042 people are in self-isolation.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 177,358 people have been infected with the novel virus, 2,705 of them have died and 151,884 have recovered, including 3,673 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 888,080 people have been tested to date, including 5,798 in the last 24 hours.

December 14, 2020 - The National Civil Protection Headquarters held a new press conference at 11 am on Monday. Interior Minister and Head of the Headquarters, Davor Bozinovic, announced a framework for new measures in Croatia this week. 

Index.hr reports that on Saturday, the highest number of deaths was recorded so far - 78, and the same number of deaths was recorded on Sunday.

Today, all high schools have started online classes, and in some counties, students from 5th to 8th grade are also online.

On Saturday, new stricter measures for shops and shopping centers came into force, which further limits the number of people in them, depending on the store's size.

Current epidemiological measures are in force until December 21, except for new measures for shops and shopping centers until January 10. There will be no easing of measures on December 21, and if the situation does not improve significantly by then, it is possible to introduce new, even stricter measures on December 21.

In the last 24 hours, Croatia recorded 1,472 new cases and the current number of active cases 22,769. The total number of positive cases is 177,358. 5,798 people were tested. The average age of those tested was 43.76 years. 258 people were admitted for treatment in 24 hours. There are 284 people on ventilators, 29 new in 24 hours. 65 people died. The average age is 77.7 years. 

"We had a 5.7 percent increase this week," Capak said. "Our incidence is high; it is 1196. Currently, the highest incidence is in Međimurje and the lowest in Dubrovnik-Neretva."

Capak confirmed that we are the worst in the EU in terms of incidence.

"We are currently ranked 27th out of 27 countries in terms of incidence, 1 incidence higher than in Luxembourg. Our mortality rate is 628.5 per million inhabitants."

KBC Osijek has 197 covid patients, Varaždin 268 patients, Zarazna 116 patients, Dubrava 472 patients, Čakovec 163.

"The numbers are incomparable to the spring," Beros said. 

Will the measures be tightened on December 21 and will passes be introduced?

"Intensive talks have been held since the last press conference, and everything is being considered. This week we will have more specific information to start lowering the numbers. We know that people are interested in the predictability of the measures, so we are in constant talks. We are careful with announcements, and this week we will clarify some things so that a few days before the decision expires on the 21st, we can announce what the framework will be. Today, we can still repeat that we ask all fellow citizens to keep from gatherings and traveling for the holidays. We will provide a framework aware that no decision can replace the decision of individuals not to visit each other, omit celebrations, and refrain from gathering people outside of your households," he said.

"40 percent of new infections today are from contacts, which shows that the contact tracking system has not broken down," Capak said.

The headquarters was asked about the impression that decisions are not made on time.

"We have been completely focused for 10 months thinking about how to reduce numbers; we are doing the best we know how. The measures are similar in the world but differ in various socio-economic factors.  We look, we compare indicators in our country and the immediate environment. This is not an epidemic that lasts 7 to 14 days. I am sure that everyone, including the Headquarters and the government, will analyze everything," Bozinovic said.

"It's not a problem for me to pay the price for all this. I'm interested in what scientific facts you base us on not making decisions on time. It's possible, I don't deny it, but it's also possible that it's not. I'm doing the best I can at this point; at some point, citizens will judge. It is not a problem for me to bear the consequences," Beros said.

"You asked me on what scientific data we are based; is it not enough for you to know that we are the worst in Europe in terms of incidence," the journalist said.

"I hope I'm in a good place, that this is a press conference without a courtroom," Markotic said. "We are doing the best we know," Markotic said, adding that there will be an analysis after all. "It is easiest to adopt a measure; it should be adapted to the environment in which you live. When the analyzes are done, we will see who did well and who did not. We will draw the line at the end of the epidemic," Markotic said.

Capak says the entire epidemic in Croatia should be analyzed from the beginning. He said it would be assessed whether a measure was adopted on time or not.

"I hope that, given that we have a light at the end of the tunnel - vaccination, we will have time to evaluate everything, and that others will evaluate us," said Capak.

Bozinovic was again asked about the introduction of passes to travel between counties.

"Intensive talks are being held on the measures; I won't comment on any of them. We will provide more precise information this week," he said.

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

December 13, 2020 - Former Croatia national team coach Otto Baric has died from COVID-19 at KB Dubrava. He was 87 years old.

The former football coach was at Dubrava Hospital for seven days. As Index.hr was told, Baric was recovering well but struggled with complications from the virus over the last few days. 

Otto Baric was born in Einskappel, Austria, on June 19, 1933. As a football player, "Her Otto," as he was called, played for Metalac and Lokomotiva, and after the end of his playing career, he became coach of Lokomotiva.

Otto Baric led as many as 14 clubs and three national teams in his rich coaching career. He achieved his greatest club success with Rapid Vienna and Casino Salzburg (now Red Bull Salzburg). With Rapid, he won 10 domestic trophies, while in 1985, he played in the Cup Winners' Cup final and was defeated by Everton 3:1.

With Casino Salzburg, he won two Austrian trophies, and in Europe, he was close to winning the competition in 1994. In the Uefa Cup final, Inter Milan was better in two matches.

Towards the end of his coaching career, Baric led three national teams. He was the Austria coach from 1999 to 2001 and took over Croatia in 2002 after the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. After additional qualifications against Slovenia, he took the national team to the European Championships in Portugal, where Croatia was in a group with England, France, and Switzerland.

He recorded two draws against Switzerland (0:0) and France (2:2), while in the last round at Luz Stadium in Lisbon, Croatia lost to England 4:2. Zlatko Kranjčar replaced Baric on the national team bench. 

At the end of his coaching career, Baric led Albania from 2006 to 2007.

More info soon...

Source: Index.hr, HNS

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

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of December, 2020, a group of Croatian scientists and doctors have stated in an open letter to the public on Sunday that without the coronavirus vaccination, the ongoing epidemic would not go away, stressing that they were convinced by rigorous scientific testing that all of the currently approved vaccines would be effective and safe.

''Based on rigorous pre-vaccine testing, and according to the strict rules of the medical and scientific community and regulatory agencies, we're confident that all of the approved COVID-19 vaccines will be effective and safe and that the risk of their serious side effects will be to be reduced to a minimum,'' pointed out the signatories of the letter, among whom is the Croatian scientist Ivan Djikic, who has been especially vocal during the pandemic.

Croatian scientists and doctors have warned that without vaccination, and without additionally respecting the proper epidemiological measures, this pandemic will not disappear, but will consequently last longer and cause additional human and economic losses for Croatia's residents.

''Proper vaccination provides protection against infection for individuals, and vaccination of the population can lead to the creation of collective immunity. For these reasons, but also for the lack of more effective therapy, we consider vaccination against COVID-19 to be the best way to protect people,'' the statement said.

The risk of serious side effects from the vaccine is immeasurably less than the risk of developing complications as a result of the coronavirus infection.

Croatian scientists and doctors, as well as those from abroad, have stated that the new coronavirus is potentially very dangerous and is highly contagious, and that the risk of serious side effects from vaccination is immeasurably lower than the risk of complications due to COVID-19 for each age group.

''A lot of people are undecided whether or not to get vaccinated because of the possible side effects. It's important to understand that the vaccine activates the immune system and teaches it to recognise the virus in a safe way. Therefore, it acts as a fake infection, which helps build immunity against SARS-COV-2, but it can also cause some transient discomfort,'' they explained.

This group of Croatian scientists also say that vaccines for the novel coronavirus have been developed faster than any other vaccine in the world, and that they understand the level of public interest in them and the questions that are being asked about it. However, they state that their trust in these currently developed vaccines is based on the extensive results of scientific tests, and that the vaccines that will be used in Croatia are tested and approved according to the strictest safety criteria of the European Union.

Vaccine administration is continuously monitored by regulatory authorities.

Many side effects such as local redness, fever and fatigue are actually very normal consequences after each vaccination as this is an effect of the expected activation of the immune system, but they aren't considered to be more severe side effects than usual, the scientists explain.

''To reduce the risk of serious side effects to an absolute minimum, extensive and rigorously controlled clinical studies are being conducted on tens of thousands of volunteers,” they say. They add that even after the vaccine is approved, the use of the vaccine is then continuously monitored by regulatory bodies, and in the event of more serious side effects, vaccination is limited or suspended.

At the end of the statement, they pointed out that as scientists and members of the healthcare community, they unanimously support and recommend the official Vaccination Programme in Croatia, according to a harmonised schedule and priorities, in order to protect human life from possible serious consequences of the disease.

The statement was signed by the following Croatian scientists: Ana Barac, Ivan Djikic, Magdalena Grce, Danka Grcevic, Stipan Jonjic, Vanda Juranic Lisnic, Tomislav Kelava, Vladimir Krajinovic, Astrid Krmpotic, Pero Lucin, Kresimir Luetic, Igor Mezic, Bojan Polic, Iskra Pusic, Kristijan Ramadan , Ivana Novak Nakir, Marija Santini, Vlatko Silobrcic, Mihaela Skobe, Sasa Srica, Ivana Smit, Igor Stagljar, Tihomir Stefanec, Janos Terzic, Andrej Trampuz, Boris Ujevic, Sinisa Volarevic, Domagoj Vucic, Oliver Vugrek and Felix Wensveen.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on December the 13th, 2020 - Croatian Epidemiologist Goranka Petrovic from the Croatian Institute of Public Health commented on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Croatia for N1 and explained what exactly the statistical data that the National Civil Protection Headquarters publishes every day means.

Despite new anti-epidemic measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the numbers are still not falling...

"How successful the measures will be depends on how well we all adhere to those measures. It's to be expected that in fifteen days to three weeks we'll notice a significant drop in the number of newly infected people and that we will break this growing curve. As far as hospitalizsd and fatal outcomes are concerned, unfortunately we have to wait even longer for improvements in terms of reduction because they always come later,'' explained Goranka Petrovic.

"We have a large increase in new infections, and the share of deaths is continuously around 1.4-1.5 percent. If we divide the percentage of those 4,000 to 4,500 infected people, we get that number of 60-70 deaths,'' she added.

Goranka Petrovic stated that for some people, recovery from the novel coronavirus can take several months.

"Coronavirus, in severe forms, also affects younger people who don't have any underlying or chronic diseases. Fortunately, this tends not to end in death. However, they also end up being placed on oxygen, and can even end up on a respirator and require mechanical ventilation. Their recovery takes some time. There's more and more talk about this post-covid condition, which is also present in younger people who need a couple of months to recover from the severe form of the disease they had,'' said Goranka Petrovic, going on to state what sort of issues these people face.

"They have this feeling of weakness, general exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, sometimes fever, and what is worrying is that some of the people who had milder forms of the disease had changes in both the central nervous system and in the heart.

“A large number of patients, about 80 percent of them, have very mild clinical pictures, and the remaining 20 percent ​​have extremely severe clinical pictures. These severe clinical pictures don't appear immediately at the onset of the first symptoms of the illness but in the second week, and are largely attributed to the immune response to the virus. When these complications occur, these people are usually not contagious, but the immune system overreacts, and disorders are created that lead to the collapse of the general condition of the body,'' explained Goranka Petrovic.

She added that it isn't possible to predict who will have a more severe clinical illness, but the elderly and those with some chronic diseases are generally at greater risk.

Goranka Petrovic also referred to the figures that the National Civil Protection Headquarters publishes every day and explained in detail how they calculate the share of new positives in the number of infected people.

"We continuously monitor the number of newly infected people who were tested that day. If we add people who were previously tested and were positive and have now for some reason been tested again and counted there among the number of active infections, then that share would fall to about 20 percent. If we look only at people who are positive for the first time, then unfortunately that percentage has been over 30 percent for weeks, most often around 35 percent,'' she explained.

How should we all behave during the festive period?

Speaking about the upcoming festivities, Goranka Petrovic pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the anti-epidemic measures during that time due to the unfavourable epidemiological situation.

"We're entering a very unfavourable period now, considering that the Christmas period is coming, which traditionally represents a time when we spend a lot more time together. Unfortunately, we're now in such a bad epidemiological situation that such things are simply ruled out,'' she stated.

Petrovic also gave some instructions on how to behave in the coming days if we want to visit someone who is at risk during the Christmas period.

''The best thing we can do is reduce the number of contacts during the upcoming Christmas period and limit ourselves to our own social bubbles where we choose a few people who have approximately the same risk of exposure and not have contact with other people. If we decide to visit someone we haven’t seen in a long time, the ECDC recommends that we put ourselves in voluntary quarantine for 10 to 14 days beforehand, that we have no risky contacts and after that quarantine, provided we don’t develop any symptoms, we then visit that person. We need to be aware that this may be the last visit for that person if we choose to visit them and are unknowingly infected with the novel coronavirus,'' she warned.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been some conflicting views on how much masks protect us from the coronavirus.

“Even if a person gets sick, the amount of virus they will receive is smaller if masks are worn and they're therefore more likely to have a milder form of the disease than if no masks are worn. The mask definitely reduces the amount of virus in the circulation among people wearing them,'' concluded Goranka Petrovic.

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ZAGREB, Dec 13, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 3,363 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 78 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Sunday.

Today, 2,864 COVID patients are being treated in hospitals, including 295 who are on ventilators.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Croatia stands at 25,035.

There are currently 59,388 people in self-isolation.

Since the start of the epidemic, a total of 175,886 people have contracted the novel virus, 2,640 of them have died, and 148,211 have recovered, including 3,520 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 882,282 people have been tested, 9,767 of them over the past 24 hours, the national COVID-19 management team said in its daily report.

December the 13th, 2020 - The ongoing crisis has forced many to put their keys in the lock, but some have decided to use the crisis as a means to force them into jumping into something new. As Glas Istre writes, Pula businessman, Zeljko Herceg, is one such person.

"There's no real coffee. You can make the best coffee at home. Coffee in a cafe is a social ritual, especially in our country. It's a place for gossip,'' is the first thing Zeljko Herceg, the owner of Pula's famous Cybercafe in the immediate vicinity, stated. He's right, it is a special ritual in Croatia, a form of socialisation that doesn't exist now, and we're not really really grieving for the taste of coffee but for the gentle murmur of society.

Zeljko Herceg's cafe is now, much like everyone else's in the country, closed, empty, with only bills arriving. Those very bills greet him at his locked door. "These are all the bills for November, and there's no money," Zeljko Herceg comments in his recognisable deep radio voice. His voice is his capital. His voice got him a job on Radio Pula and Radio Maestral, to which he returned during the pandemic and reawakened his old love for the radio airwaves. He works for free, but that's not the point. The point lies in the emotion, love, interaction and communication that everyone is missing at the moment, including him.

He's the type people wonder about when it comes to thinking about how others are coping with this situation. He is one of those people who knows how to manage with just about anything. Throughout his life, he threw himself from one branch to another. He swam well in each pool and was extremely successful. “Yeah, I’m orthodox,” he joked. By that he means he goes all the way when something bites him.

Zeljko Erceg logically started his radio career owing to his voice. Initially, it was Dilema, his first company with which, back in 1993, he launched the cult and legendary Art & Music Festival, the largest alternative festival in the region that promoted comic book culture, positioned a new youth scene, and Pula became an important point on the cultural and musical map of this part of the world. After 10 years with Dilema, he created New Concept, a company that dealt with marketing and ticket sales for the Histria Festival.

At one point, for existential reasons, he started selling Kirby vacuum cleaners. "I didn't have a kuna in my pocket. I borrowed 2,500 kuna from a friend and the agreement was to return that amount to him in a month. I didn't have that kind of money, and my friend said: ''You're a smart boy, come with me to a Kirby's presentation to see how I work. Then do five presentations, if you sell one Kirby, you don't have to give me my money back.''

I had an aversion to that, and when I realised that I had to go on stage and that I had to spend two hours up there... Well, I ended up making many sales. In the first month, I got such great results that after that the president of the company came and me took me to Rome, London, Amsterdam and showed me how many vacuum cleaners I'd sold,'' Zeljko Herceg recalled.

Although he was the best salesman in Southeast Europe and made a good living from it, after a year and a half he went to Zagreb. He said that the sale of vacuum cleaners directed him there, without him even being aware of it, to become a teacher of communication skills. The school of personal development with the well-known Pula psychiatrist Robert Duras also helped him in that field.

"We were aware that during our awkward formative years we'd made significancy life changes in the transition from socialism to capitalism. We didn't have that system of thinking built within us. A year ago, greed wasn't a good quality, and then overnight it was something that had added value. Suddenly you were successful if you managed to create excess capital. We didn't all do well in that, and the school of personal development helped me to use some tools to take myself and my family on a journey, and to still remain normal,'' explained Zeljko Herceg.

He added he isn't a conformist, nor is he a team player. He tried his hand at politics, he wanted to be an uhljeb, but he didn't succeed - he lasted a mere month.

''In a corporation, it's interesting how people communicate. No school can teach you how to do it. If you've completed communication science, you don't have a sales plan, if you are a salesman, you don't have a communication line. There's something missing everywhere, and that is skill. The skill is that with a sufficient amount of repetition and sufficient time and quality work assistance invested, incredible results can be achieved. In the sporting world, repetition and thus the formation of a habit is normal, in business it's something unknown, and that's why it needs to be learned,'' explained Zeljko Herceg when discussing the skills that led him to work as an independent lecturer for eight years in Croatia.

The coronavirus crisis is, therefore, while an enormous issue, just another obstacle in the road for Zeljko Herceg, who will, for his ''next trick'' open a firm and enter the world of construction in order to survive.

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