December the 5th, 2020 - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has seen healthcare facilities, hospitals and those working in them stretched to their capacities. As such, Carlsberg Croatia is just yet another company in a line of those donating equipment to hospitals, this time the donation is a respirator to the Koprivnica General Hospital.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Carlsberg Croatia recently donated a mobile respirator to the Koprivnica General Hospital to help doctors' efforts to provide the best possible care to patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. With the delivery of the accompanying donation letter, the donation became official. The Koprivnica General Hospital is thus richer for a mobile respirator worth around 50,000 kuna in total.

''Donations of hospital equipment aren't something we usually do, but the situation in northern Croatia is so serious and we felt that we must do what we can to help doctors in their difficult and serious task. We sincerely hope that the severe cases in which this device is used will be minimal. Every new patient who needs help in order to breathe is news that worries and saddens us all, and that's why it's important to take care of yourself and the people around you,'' the President of the Board of Carlsberg Croatia, Marcin Burdach, stated.

Carlsberg Croatia joined the efforts to protect Koprivnica's residents from the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year when it donated disinfectant to the city. Today, the brewery is going yet another step further and has decided to donate medical equipment.

''I'd like to thank Carlsberg Croatia for this extremely valuable donation which will help us care for patients who have developed severe respiratory symptoms as part of their COVID-19 infection. This donation is an expression of Carlsberg's exceptional understanding and awareness of all aspects of the COVID -19 epidemic,'' said Dr. Mato Devcic, the director of the Koprivnica General Hospital.

The donated respirator is already in use, which is why the CEO of Carlsberg Croatia and the director of the Koprivnica General Hospital said that taking proper caution and looking after our health are the most important things we can do in these unprecedented and dire circumstances.

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December 5, 2020 - Instead of the 5th birthday celebrations they had planned, a wonderful thank you gesture for Croatia's healthcare heroes from Curry Bowl Zagreb.

The pandemic has caused havoc with the hospitality industry around the world, and the restaurant sector is no exception. With lockdowns, rigorous measures, restricted opening hours and the reluctance of customers to risk infection, it is not surprising that some restaurants have not opened at all this year. But in among all the doom and gloom, there is often a great story or two.

During the national lockdown earlier this year, we reported on Nikola Bozic from Djurina Hiza, the only restaurant in Croatia which actually hired more staff, as he moved his business model from serving in-house to a nationwide delivery service.  

And how about this great story, a wonderful gesture and thanks to the healthcare heroes at the frontline of fighting COVID-19 from a corner of Sri Lanka in the heart of Zagreb. 

It wasn't quite planned like this. Ever since Sri Lankan brothers Brian and Clement Seranatne did a tour of Europe together several years ago ahead of Clement's upcoming wedding, Zagreb has been their life. They decided to open the first-ever Sri Lankan restaurant in the capital, and Curry Bowl Zagreb became a reality on December 4, 2015. The restaurant offered authentic Sri Lankan flavours, with dishes adapted to te European palate. My colleague Marc Rowlands did an excellent in-depth piece on Curry Bowl Zagreb recently - check it out here. 

Five years later, there is plenty to celebrate after what has been an incredibly successful adventure. Curry Bowl Zagreb is now rated in the top 5 restaurants in the Croatian capital, and the business has expanded to include the opening of Curry Bowl on Obonjan in 2016, the Whole Wide World Hostel on Britanski Trg in Zagreb, and the official distributorship of Lion Beer in 2018. 2020 included plans to expand the Curry Bowl brand outside Croatia for the first time. 

So much to celebrate on December 4, 2020 after 5 phenomenal years. But... 2020. 

So the enterprising brothers came up with something VERY different than the 5-year birthday they had planned. With the restaurant closed for sit-down customers until at least December 21, they decided instead to mark the first five years with a wonderful gesture - a week of free, delicious Sri Lankan food for any frontline hospital worker showing their ID, as a small thanks for all their efforts. 

The generous offer will last a week, starting yesterday until December 10. In order to collect their meal, the hospital worker just needs to pick it up from the restaurant and show hospital ID. You can take a look at the menu here and contact them for more information. 

You can check out the brothers interviewed on national television in the video below, or check out more in Marc's article. 

December 4, 2020 – At today's press conference of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute for Public Health, presented the vaccination plan in Croatia.

Capak said that the EU had opened negotiations with six manufacturers in the first phase and that the first agreement Croatia had received was the AstraZeneca agreement. From this manufacturer, 3.6 million doses of vaccine were ordered, but due to the huge interest of other EU countries, Croatia received 2.7 million doses, so the remaining 900,000 doses were ordered from Johnson & Johnson.

After that, one million doses were ordered from Pfizer and Moderna, and 300,000 doses from CureVac.

"Croatia has ordered 5.6 million vaccine doses from various manufacturers, and we have received an offer from the company that will register it at the end of 2021. We will take smaller quantities from them in case this is a seasonal vaccine," Capak said.

Pfizer's vaccine could be registered by December 29, registration of the Moderna vaccine is expected in early January, so it is likely that these vaccines will be the first to be vaccinated in Croatia, as the Oxford (AstraZeneca) vaccine is expected later in the first quarter of next year, said Capak.

Vaccination free and voluntary, masks still mandatory

"We've made a vaccination plan. It has all the elements except the distribution date and quantity, that's what we don't know yet. Pfizer has announced that the first round that comes to us will contain 125,000 doses. If it's a quarterly delivery, we'll be able to vaccinate 62,500 people. If there is a monthly delivery, then we will be able to vaccinate 125,000 people," said Capak, adding that the priority people are the sick, people in health care, users and staff of nursing homes. After that, the vaccine will be offered to all other residents.

"We calculate that 5.6 million doses will be enough for everyone who wants to be vaccinated. The vaccine will be free and voluntary, it will not be mandatory. But it would be good to vaccinate as many people as possible; it provides us with collective immunity," said Capak, emphasizing that the era of not wearing masks will not begin with the vaccination itself.

"For a while, we will coexist with masks even though we have been vaccinated or got over it. When the numbers fall then we will reduce the obligation to wear masks," Capak said.

The importance of informing about vaccination

"All vaccines recommend two doses. The second dose follows three or four weeks after the first. In the implementation, we took a model of how we do it for the flu. The county public health institutes will vaccinate with the help of other colleagues," he says.

Also, Capak added that it is very important to inform citizens truthfully and accurately, so the Government will hold a series of expert conferences to promote the importance of vaccination.

"In the fight against anti-vaccines, it is important to accurately inform citizens, and we are already doing that. The government will run an additional campaign, there will be a series of professional and scientific conferences, experts will talk about the vaccine and effectiveness. We will promote the importance of vaccination through the media and other means of communication and we think it is very important to emphasize in this campaign that vaccination protects not only ourselves but also others. It is a matter of social responsibility and solidarity with those most vulnerable from a coronavirus infection,” Capak said.

He added that no one even talked about compulsory vaccination.

"I will definitely get vaccinated and I offer you to record it when the vaccine comes to Croatia," Capak promised reporters and was joined by other members Davor Bozinović, Alemka Markotić, and Vili Beroš.

"It is said that this is the fastest developed vaccine in history. That is true, but one should know the fact that from the beginning it was obvious that the cure would be difficult to find. Therefore, large funds were quickly invested in vaccine research and production," Capak said in the introduction of the conference.

Sources: Hina, Index.hr.

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ZAGREB, December 4, 2020 - A total of 3,955 new coronavirus cases and 68 infection-related deaths have been confirmed in Croatia in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Friday morning.

The number of active cases currently stands at 24,190. It includes 2,427 patients receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19, of whom 262 are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in the country, 143,370 people have been infected with the novel virus, of whom 2,032 have died and 117,148 have recovered, including 3,639 in the last 24 hours.

Currently 59,417 people are in self-isolation. A total of 790,883 people have been tested to date, including 10,626 in the last 24 hours.

December the 4th 2020 - The very real fear of spiralling and uncontrolled coronavirus spread has seen the well known Croatian shipyard send some of its employees home. Some Brodosplit workers are now no longer on site.

As Morski writes, the Split-based shipyard Brodosplit published a notice on the measure for the additional protection of Brodosplit workers from the potential exponential spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has been published on its website.

"Given the increase in new cases in Split and Split-Dalmatia County, there is a real danger that the new coronavirus virus will start spreading uncontrollably, in which case it will inevitably affect a large number of Brodosplit workers," the statement said.

''In order to further reduce the risk of such an outcome and protect key construction projects, in particular the completion of the construction of the Ultramarine polar cruiser and the construction of the Janssonius polar cruiser on slipway No. 3, as well as the production of the elements of the ''Ston'' bridge, Brodosplit's management has decided to send some Brodosplit workers home to use their annual leave as of the 7th of December 2020 as an additional measure to protect the shipyard from a major coronavirus outbreak.

It is expected that with the minimum number of workers present on site at Brodosplit, the risk of the uncontrolled spread of the virus will be reduced to a more reasonable extent and as such, Brodosplit can successfully complete all of its key projects within the agreed deadlines, the eventual cessation of which would be fatal to the shipyard due to the spread of the pandemic.

Closing the shipyard down was absolutely not an option for us at any point, so we have to do everything we can to avoid it. Let’s stay responsible, take care of yourselves, your colleagues, and especially your families. We hope that the situation with the pandemic will calm down soon and that we'll be able to return to our previous, normal lives and normal work activities as soon as possible'' Brodosplit said in a statement intended for its workers.

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December 4, 2020 – Accepting all known knowledge of the Coronavirus risk and the announced vaccines, security and risk experts International SOS have published their latest, annual Travel Risk Map. It says Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors

With the end of the life-halting Coronavirus in sight, thanks to several effective vaccines announced, which country would be best to visit next year? Well, Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors.

It's been a long, difficult year for everyone. It's maybe hard to believe if you live in Croatia and haven't much travelled outside the country, but the residents of Croatia have had it no more difficult than anywhere else. With only around 4 million inhabitants, there's lots of space in Croatia to move around.

Take in comparison Britain's London. That one city (1,572 km²) alone has 9 million people. Croatia has 56,594 km² for less than half the number of people. But, this generous amount of space in which to move around is not the only reason Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors.

On 2 December 2020, Total Croatia News published the annual report based on the Global Terrorism Index, identifying Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 in regards to the absence of terrorist threat and effect. Now, according to the latest annual Travel Risk Map, it has been designated that Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors.

Security and risk experts International SOS's Travel Risk Map for 2021.

The map, created by security and risk experts International SOS , ranks the safety of countries across the globe taking into account medical, security and road risks. It assesses the risk of political violence, social unrest, and the threat of violent and petty crimes – and, most importantly this year, the impact of the pandemic.

For the first two categories, countries are given a rating out of five, while road safety is rated out of four based on the mortality rate per 100,000 people. The places with the highest risk level for security issues are mostly in Africa, with South Sudan, Mali, Yemen, Somalia and the Maiduguri region of Nigeria listed under the most dangerous, along with the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Ukraine.

International SOS's map showing the countries with the most and least Covid-19 disruption. Very low-risk countries are marked in white, low risk in grey, medium in blue, high in purple and very high in pink.

Very few countries rank above Croatia in the new safety map, New Zealand, Tanzania and Nicaragua among them, meaning Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors.

For the residents of crowded cities elsewhere in Europe, Australia or the USA who have felt more than restricted in 2020, it might be worth remembering when planning next year's escape that Croatia is one of the most safe countries in 2021 for visitors.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday the government was expected to adopt next week a decision on a salary bonus for the medical staff who were on the front line of the fight against the spread of the epidemic and were caring for COVID-19 patients.

"The medical staff on the front line are making an extreme contribution to the health of the Croatian nation. That must be adequately validated. The current budget revenues are not optimal but the government will find a possibility and a way to stimulate all who are on the front line," Beros told the press.

Not all medical staff will get bonus

A decision is being drawn up to thank the medical staff who are treating COVID-19 patients, he said, adding that the government was likely to discuss the decision next week.

Not all medical staff will get the bonus as not all are in the same danger or doing the same jobs, Beros said, adding that the bonus was being carefully considered.

The president of the HLS doctors' union, Renata Culinovic Caic, told Hina the union was pushing for all doctors getting the bonus as they were all exposed to infection and deteriorating work conditions.

"The union can't be expected to say who to reward and who not to because they have all been working in deteriorating conditions for months. The government should assume the responsibility for deciding the bonus amount and who to give it to," she said.

Other EU member states have realised that all medical staff should be rewarded and the bonuses there range from €700 to 1,000, she added.

"One should know that patients are not taken care of only in COVID wards and intensive care but are checked in in emergency wards and elsewhere as well. In doing so, one doesn't know if they are positive, which often turns out to be the case, putting other healthcare workers in danger too."

One should keep in mind that due to the reassignment of some doctors to COVID wards, other doctors are under an additional burden because they cover for those caring for all other patients, she said.

Large number of people in malls is an epidemiological risk

Beros told the press that restrictions in shopping malls could be tightened because the large number of people there posed an epidemiological risk.

"Every day we are talking about every element, including economic elements. However, our primary concern is the health of patients and the health of the nation," he said.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - The government decided on Thursday that businesses that had been ordered to shut down as part of the efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic would be exempt from paying rent and the fee for the use of state-owned premises.

Bars and restaurants were forced to suspend their operations following orders by the national coronavirus response team of November 20 and 27.

"That's why additional steps need to be taken to help businesses maintain their economic activity and jobs," Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Darko Horvat said at a cabinet meeting.

The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets was authorised to exempt all businesses from paying rent and the fee for the use of state-owned premises during the lockdown.

Businesses that have not been ordered to suspend their operations, but who will experience a decline in revenues of 60 percent and more from December 1 until the restrictions remain in force will be exempt from paying rent in proportion to their revenues in the same month last year, provided that they keep their workers.

Based on its decision of July 2, the government has already written off HRK 5.8 million in receivables for the use of state-owned business premises for April and May, Horvat said.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - Since November 30, inspectors from the Civil Protection Directorate have carried out 1,023 inspections of businesses and public gatherings to check their compliance with COVID-19 restrictions, issuing 76 warnings, after which the shortcomings were removed, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Bozinovic said that the irregularities mostly concerned failure to display a notice of the number of customers allowed on the premises at any given time, failure to keep a safe distance at supermarket checkouts, and the use of face masks by customers and staff.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday that in the last seven days the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients had increased 18% on the week,  announcing remuneration for medical professionals catering for this category of patients.

Currently, 2,501 persons who have caught the novel virus are receiving hospital treatment, of whom 258 are on ventilators, Beros said during a government meeting.

Also, 1,516 medical professionals who have tested positive for coronavirus are currently out of work and an additional 1,032 are in self-isolation, he added.

Currently, 74.44% of beds allotted for COVID patients are occupied, and 44.87% of respiratory centres' capacities are occupied, the minister said, adding that the health system would further adapt to developments.

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said that the civil protection directorate had to date delivered 495,000 items of protective gear, or about 50 tonnes.

The logistics centre in Jastrebarsko currently stores 11 million items of protective gear, he added.