ZAGREB, Oct 27, 2020 - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman has described as "ill-intentioned" reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit has been postponed for political reasons, stressing that a future meeting "is beyond question."

The Russian minister was to have visited Croatia on Tuesday but the visit was postponed.

The Jutarnji List daily of Monday said that "Russian sources claim Minister Lavrov is angry because Prime Minister (Andrej) Plenkovic did not want to meet with him", a claim that was strongly dismissed on the same day by the Croatian government, which said that the visit was postponed at the request of the Russian side due to the epidemiological situation at the Russian Embassy in Zagreb.

The government also said that a meeting with the prime minister had been scheduled.

"I don't know where this comes from, all the meetings were arranged," Grlic Radman said on Tuesday, stressing that the Russian ambassador to Croatia had arranged meetings between Lavrov and Plenkovic as well as President Zoran Milanovic and that Lavrov had also been informed of the topics of the meeting with Plenkovic.

Grlic Radman repeated that the visit had been cancelled due to the epidemiological situation.

"To organise a visit by a minister you need to have logistics - an ambassador and their associates to help organise it," Grlic Radman said.

"Just as this meeting has been postponed so will the next be agreed. That is beyond doubt," said the minister.

He could not say when a new date for the visit would be agreed but noted that "agreement will be reached soon."

Lavrov is visiting Athens, Sarajevo and Belgrade as part of his tour of Southeast European countries and only the visit to Zagreb has been cancelled.

ZAGREB, Oct 27, 2020 - In the last 24 hours 1,413 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia and a record 18 persons have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Tuesday.

The number of active cases is 11,311, including 897 hospitalised patients, of whom 57 are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the new virus was first registered in Croatia, 38,621 persons have been infected, of whom 470 have died and 26,840 have recovered, including 1,003 in the past 24 hours.

Currently 27,720 persons are self-isolating.

To date 457,726 persons have been tested, including 8,185 in the past 24 hours.

October 27, 2020 - How dreading getting tested turned into one of the most painless experiences in Croatia yet. My COVID-19 testing experience at KBC Split. 

We've all heard horror stories about COVID testing by now. From waiting in non-socially-distanced crowds for hours to despising the tickling sensation up their nose so much they wouldn't wish it upon their worst enemy - I have heard it all. 

To say I wasn't exactly eager to get my first COVID test today is a bit of an understatement. And the fact that I needed it to travel abroad when I haven't left my house in 3 weeks as the cases rose had me even more on edge. However, if I wanted to see my partner for the first time in 7 months in Barcelona on Thursday, I needed that negative test result ASAP. 

With plans to leave on Thursday (so long as the airline Gods are on my side), I called my doctor in Split on Monday morning, who referred me to the testing center at KBC Split (Križine) on Tuesday at 10:45 am, exactly 48 hours before I was to leave Split. My first hurdle - crossed - and easily, at that. 

But then I began to worry when I saw an article in the local media about lines for testing wrapping around the streets of KBC Split on Monday... (yikes). Dalmacija Danas also shared a photo of the line they witnessed today, just before my appointment, which they claimed was even BIGGER than yesterday (you can have a look HERE). 

Why would it be any different for me?

With ripping jugo winds and an 80% chance of rain in the forecast between 10-11 am on Tuesday, conveniently as I was to be waiting in line for testing, I was not looking forward to having a similar experience - and since I was on a strict timeframe, there was no room for error.

Once I mentally prepared for what would likely await me at the testing center, I arrived 15 minutes early, just in case. 

I made my way up the slight incline to the testing center at KBC Split at 10:30, and as the makeshift testing center came into view in the corner of my eye, I witnessed the unimaginable - no one. And no line. 

Because we in Croatia are too familiar with the fact that nothing is ever this easy, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that my doctor duped me, and the testing center was closed. 

But it wasn't. 

I walked up to the testing window as the only person getting tested at the time was finishing up. Confused, I handed over my health cards to the nurses, who asked if I've had any symptoms. After an oral swab and a nasopharyngeal swab in both nostrils, the nurse asked for my doctor's name and said to call her tomorrow as the results will be done then. And that was it.

The entire process took less than two minutes. 

I left stunned and looked around to see if anyone else was waiting, but the testing area remained empty. I was home 10 minutes later. 

In a country where bureaucracy is dreaded, and confusion is king, this painless process was a pleasant surprise. Of course, everyone's testing experience is different, but for anyone hoping to skip the line, try going on a Tuesday at 10:30 when the jugo is blowing, and you may get as lucky as I did. 

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

ZAGREB, Oct 27, 2020 - Assistant Croatian Institute of Public Health director Marija Bubas said on Tuesday that 80% of those infected with coronavirus were in the active population and that the national COVID response team's new protection measures were in force as of today.

Speaking on public television, she said public gatherings with more than 50 people were no longer possible, a maximum 30 people were allowed at weddings and funerals, and 15 at other private gatherings.

Bubas said the exception were theatres, cinemas and religious gatherings.

The measures will be in force the next 14 days, longer if necessary, she added.

Bubas said the new measures encouraged work from home because 80% of those infected were in the active population.

She said masks should be worn at cemeteries in the coming days because many people would visit them on the occasion of All Saints' Day.

ZAGREB, Oct 27, 2020 - The Croatian Institute of Public Health has released new recommendations under which self-isolation is reduced from 14 to 10 days for persons who have had close contact with a person infected with coronavirus.

The self-isolation period has been changed under a decision by experts of the Health Ministry's crisis management team.

The exception are persons who work in care homes for gravely ill elderly persons and disabled persons. For them, quarantine stays 14 days.

October 27, 2020 - One Dalmatian island with 760 inhabitants, a five-hour ferry ride from Split, has not recorded a single coronavirus case since the first was recorded in Croatia back in February. A closer look at why Lastovo records zero COVID-19 cases to this day.

Slobodna Dalmacija asked the head of the Lastovo Civil Protection Headquarters, Margaret Hropić, how the locals managed to achieve zero patients for nine months.

"We have no concrete explanation as to why no corona cases have been reported on the island all this time. We had a busy summer, quite a few tourists, life is the same as in all other areas. People violate and respect measures; there is no different, more special behavior that we practice in our community. We live like the rest of the world. We are a closed environment. Behind us, from a tourist point of view, it is a successful summer. Maybe we have stronger collective immunity. The area of the island is certainly energetically stronger due to the natural environment.

We are grateful to God and hope that He will keep us going. Maybe the explanation lies in some intangible reason; I have room to believe in such an option," Margaret Hropić said.

One of the largest entrepreneurs in Lastovo, Marčelino Simić, the owner of one of the most famous restaurants in the southern part of the waters, and its marina, is almost of the same opinion. This summer, up to 30 yachts could be anchored on its pontoon simultaneously—and three-hundred people circulated in a small space. But what happened? Nothing. Everyone healthy, everything clean, everything tidy. So what's the secret?

"So many people have passed, and did anyone become infected - no, did anyone have a fever - no, did the corona come - no. We had two, three cases of self-isolation, but from our people who came from outside to the island, so they had to go through that measure as well. And everyone was healthy. Why? It is not in the open, my dear, corona; it cannot survive there. There are few people on the whole island on 50 square kilometers. There are another 50 kilometers of water around us; our whole island is a great self-isolation. Care was taken when going ashore; care was taken on the ferry and catamaran. Each of us really cares about who we will stand with then and how we will behave. The neighbor and every peson on the island are taken care of. Because when I take care of them, I take care of everything and myself. And on Lastovo, there is a special energy that keeps us all together," he says.

Furthermore, the island is experiencing a baby boom, with 10 babies this year! 

Bruna Rizvanović is among the pregnant women expecting a baby in late January to early February. She will be a mom for the first time.

"I know about five pregnant women; they say that there are about ten of them. It is difficult to count because we are connected by doctors in Split. I share the same day of birth with one. And to put it bluntly, we got pregnant at the same time, in April, May, during the lockdown. Well, the term clearly shows that we didn't really keep a social distance," Bruna laughs.

Her friend Martina Bašić Ivčević from Zaklopatica said that this is not the first time she has been in the center of a baby boom; one already passed ten years ago, when she was pregnant with her second child in a row. She is now expecting her fifth.

"And listen, there was a baby boom during corona. But I think it has to do with cycles, with decades. Now, why don't we have a corona? Big cities - several cases, smaller areas, less. There is nobody here. We follow the rules; we wear masks, don't have big gatherings, and we live. We protect each other. And so, everything runs as normal," concludes Martina.

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

October the 27th, 2020 - The Zagreb Arena has taken quite a different tone than usual, with fun and events being replaced by hospital beds for coronavirus patients as the limited capacities of Croatian medical facilities continue to be stretched thin.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has turned Croatia on its head. The country went from being among the most successful in handling the virus in Europe back in spring when the pandemic first took the continent by storm, with far richer European countries such as the United Kingdom suffering horrendously, to among the worst. Here in the City of Zagreb, the figures have been soaring once again, and the Zagreb Arena is being equipped to deal with patients for whom there may be no hospital beds.

The Zagreb Arena was initially mobilised back in March, when the new coronavirus first managed to penetrate Croatia's first lines of defense, and it's certainly enough to cause concern to know that its capacities may well be needed yet again.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on the 25th of October, as part of the announcement of the new anti-epidemic measures from the National Civil Protection Headquarters, the same body also announced that a decision had been made to mobilise the Zagreb Arena as a tertiary centre for the treatment of coronavirus patients who require professional medical help to cope with their symptoms.

Croatian Health Miniter Vili Beros announced that patients with mild to moderate symptoms will be treated in the Zagreb Arena, with those with worse clinical pictures being given hospital care within proper healthcare facilities.

As previously touched on, the Zagreb Arena was originally last mobilised in March, and the beds prepared for the sick were taken out of it in May.

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ZAGREB, Oct 26, 2020 - All tested cabinet ministers and government officials who met on Saturday to discuss the national development strategy until 2030 are negative for the coronavirus, government spokesman Marko Milic said on Monday afternoon.

Among those attending the meeting was Tourism and Sport Minister Nikolina Brnjac who was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic got tested on Sunday and the result is negative, Milic told a press conference in the morning.

Test results for Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek are expected this evening as she took the test in the afternoon.

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Coric, Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Josip Aladrovic and State Secretary Terezija Gras have not been tested yet because they have been ordered to self-isolate.

ZAGREB, Oct 26, 2020 - Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac, who attended a meeting at the government headquarters on Saturday, is positive for coronavirus, two other ministers who participated in the meeting are self-isolating while other participants are being monitored, a government official said on Sunday.

Government spokesman Marko Milic said that Labour, Pension System and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrovic and Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Coric, who sat at the meeting next to Brnjac, were self-isolating.

Milic noted that Brnjac had mild symptoms and that her condition was good as well as that she would continue working from home. Members of her family have been told to self-isolate as well.

Coric and Aladrovic will be self-isolating for 14 days.

Milic said that all participants in the Saturday meeting wore face masks during the entire meeting.

All the other participants in the event are being monitored and will have to test for coronavirus, the spokesman said.

Lika-Senj County head positive for coronavirus

Earlier in the day, Lika-Senj County head Darko Milinovic, too, confirmed having contracted COVID-19.

Milinovic said that he would continue working from home and that also positive were all members of his immediate family.

October the 26th, 2020 - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is continuing to deal heavy blows, with the infection rate in Croatia rising to figures that were difficult to imagine back during the beginning back in spring. With capacities filling and medical staff being stretched thin, the Croatian Medical Chamber has called on retired medics to activate and get involved with helping to deal with the result of the spread of the new virus across the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of October, 2020, due to the significant deterioration of the epidemiological situation related to the spread of COVID-19 here in Croatian, Minister of Health Vili Beros recently came out and asked the Croatian Medical Chamber to provide the Ministry of Health with data on retired doctors who are willing to re-engage in healthcare duties during the epidemic, each according to their own respective specialisations.

As has since been found out, in the first 24 hours of Beros having made this plea, 23 retired doctors responded to the call of the Croatian Medical Chamber, stating that they're ready to re-activate to try to help cope with the spread of the new coronavirus.

The Croatian Medical Chamber added that they expect much higher numbers of retired medics to respond at the beginning of the next working week.

To brieflty recall, the Minister of Health recently warned that the number of hospitalised coronavirus patients is growing rapidly, as are the number of health professionals who are positive for the virus and as such have been placed into self-isolation, which is why they can't currently participate in treating patients.

Minister Beros asked the Croatian Medical Chamber to submit to the Ministry of Health data on retired doctors who are willing to re-engage professionally, and interested doctors can contact the chamber should they desire to involve themselves amid the pandemic, the invitation reads.

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