As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of August, 2020, more flights have started taking off for Dubrovnik, the streets and restaurants are livelier, and something is finally happening in Croatia's tourist Mecca. Of course, each of the tourism workers has their own personal story to tell, some dealt with the coronavirus more easily, some took it harder, and some will be buried by it.

Local portal Dubrovacki dnevnik investigated the situation with the city's private accommodation.

Last year, which was a record one, it was impossible to find an apartment in a good location and with good reviews for less than 100 euros per night in the peak season. This year the prices are much lower. A quick look at Booking.com and Airbnb will reveal numerous apartments at fair prices in Dubrovnik. In fact, in the last week of August, Dubrovnik's private accommodation has never been more affordable for foreign tourists.

Thus, in a beautifully decorated apartment within the city's historic walls, the price per night at the end of August is a mere 79 euros. This apartment on Airbnb has a high rating of 4.9 based on 60 reviews. It even has a roof terrace with a beautiful view of the famous UNESCO city. In the first part of August it was well filled, but in the second half, things weren't quite so. As for September, seven days have been booked so far.

Prices within Dubrovnik's city walls for dates in the last week of August start at 45 euros for a studio apartment, and most renters provide accommodation between 50 and 60 euros per night. Last year, it cost that much to spend the night outside the narrow heart of Dubrovnik, and well-kept apartments in even Mokosica were managing to be booked for higher prices last year than the apartments in the old town are in 2020.

Thus, one with a rating of 4.86, located near Siroka ulica (street), comes with a mere 58 euro price tag. It also has an extra bed, meaning it can sleep three guests. It is decorated with a multitude of antiques. Accommodation for over one hundred euros can also be found. Such a luxuriously decorated house for four guests with a garden costs 130 euros. In the first half of August it was well filled, while in the second half and for September there are no reservations for now. It has a rating of 4.92.

As for accommodation in the popular Lapad area, it is possible to find very good accommodation there for 39 euros per night for three people. There is also a barbecue in the garden. Prices in Lapad mostly range around fifty euros for the second half of August. In Gruz, private rooms can be found for as little as 30 euros, and nicely decorated apartments cost around 50 euros. Mokosica doesn't offer much accommodation for tourists, which means that many property owners have turned to renting to families throughout the year. Despite that, a villa with a swimming pool in Mokosica comes at a cost of 117 euros per night, and it can accommodate four guests, which is a fantastic price per person.

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ZAGREB, Aug 25, 2020 - The government's Scientific Council on Tuesday recommended introducing new epidemiological measures in places where there are more infected persons in order to reverse the current negative trends ahead of the new school year.

"The number of new infections has been growing over the past two weeks and we have concluded that that was a risk that we accepted when we opened the border for the tourist season, but now we agree that it is time again, in places with an increase in the number of new infections, to take measures to reduce those numbers and have as few infections as possible before the start of the school year," epidemiologist Branko Kolaric said after a session of the Scientific Council.

The new epidemiological measures will be made by the national COVID-19 response team, and the Scientific Council has only advised it on what should be done, he said.

"Our advice is to introduce new measures regionally, locally and depending on the current epidemiological situation. There will be no horizontal measures for the entire country, in the communities with a larger number of infections masks will have to be worn indoors and awareness of the importance of physical distancing will have to be raised," said Kolaric.

He added that due to a shortage of epidemiologists additional personnel would be hired to help primarily in the search for the contacts of infected persons.

Asked about the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus, Kolaric said that he knew very little about it and that he believed it was an adenovirus vaccine. He stressed, though, that on the list of the World Health Organisation there were six vaccines in an advanced stage of research and that he was optimistic in that regard.

The head of Zagreb's hospital for infectious diseases "Dr Fran Mihaljevic", Alemka Markotic, said that one should prepare for the autumn and winter months when more severe cases of the disease and greater pressure on the health system were expected.

"Nobody expects any major lockdown but one should be able to cope with the situation and find the right measures," Markotic said, concluding that so far, Croatia had been dealing well with the pandemic.

As for the tourist season, she said that there had been no significant number of infections in hotels and camping sites and that there were around 300 entries on international platforms with data on infected tourists.

"There has been no explosion of the infection so far but now that people are returning to their workplace and children start school, one should be aware of the need to adhere to epidemiological measures and be disciplined," she said. 

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ZAGREB, Aug 25, 2020 - In the past 24 hours, 219 new cases of the coronavirus were detected in Croatia bringing the total number of cases to 2,231, the national Covid-19 response team said on Tuesday. 

Currently, 167 patients are hospitalised, nine of whom are on ventilators. Two more patients have died.

Since 25 February, when the first case of the infection was detected in Croatia, a total of 8,530 people have been infected, 175 of whom have died while 6,124 have recovered.

There are currently 7,815 people in self-isolation.

A total of 154,159 people have been tested for the virus to date, including 1,977 in the past 24 hours.

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August 25, 2020 - After a moped accident, a young man needed emergency surgery. Since his life was in danger, the doctors couldn't spend much time waiting around for the results. Now he is stable, but positive for COVID-19, and the Varaždin hospital is short of 25 medical staff until September 7.

According to a police report, the young man crashed into a tree in Vinica at around 2.10 am. "The nature of the injuries required urgent and immediate surgery on the patient's head. Subsequent testing determined that the patient was positive for COVID-19," said Dr. Kudelić, a neurosurgeon who operated on the young man. The young man is now stable, and not in danger of death, reports Jutarnji.hr. Since he operated on the injured young man, Dr. Kudelić is also among those who will work from home for the next 14 days. In addition to his work as a neurosurgeon, Dr. Nenad Kudelić is also the director of the Varaždin General Hospital.

After the emergency care of a young man who was in a traffic accident on Saturday, August 22, medics had to self-isolate. Thus, the Varaždin hospital was left without two neurosurgeons, four anesthesiologists, two surgeons, and 17 nurses.

Now patients are worried and are asking if their scheduled surgeries will be delayed. Dr. Kudelić confirms that there will be a delay. He announced the need for a temporary reorganisation of the work of the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Surgical Diseases.

"Some of the operations, which were planned by doctors who are now in self-isolation, will be postponed for 14 days, and all emergencies will still be taken care of as before," said Dr. Kudelić, one of the most respected domestic neurosurgeons. Therefore, his temporary absence from the operating room is a great disappointment for the patients.

Varaždin Hospital, like the County itself, is strict when it comes to measures to combat coronavirus. For example, although they do not have to do so officially, in addition to patients coming for surgery, tests are performed on all patients admitted through the emergency service to that hospital. That turned out to be a very good move.

"Thanks to that, another patient with an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection was detected in a short time, due to which, unfortunately, a certain number of employees ended up in self-isolation. Due to such security measures, uncontrolled penetration of the virus among healthcare workers and patients was prevented," Dr. Kudelić emphasised, pointing out that the hospital has no infected employees. In addition to the hospital staff, one team from the Emergency Medical Service, and two primary care teams from Varaždin's medical circles are in self-isolation.

Varaždin County, due to, as they say, the disrupted situation regarding healthcare, is appealing to the population not to "take precautionary epidemiological measures lightly."

Controversial wedding

Varaždin County has so far coped well with the coronavirus crisis. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 117 registered cases, 15 of which are attributed to the county because of the reported place of residence of those individuals. Last weekend will sadly spoil this favourable statistic. At one wedding in the vicinity of Ivanec, four people were infected.

COVID-19 affected a newlywed, two members of the band and some guests from Switzerland. Since there were a large number of guests at the wedding, it is believed that there will be more confirmed infections in the days to come.

At the moment, there are 49 infected people in the county, nine of whom are being treated at the Varaždin General Hospital. There are 270 people in isolation, who were connected with the sick.

Dr. Nenad Kudelić and his colleagues should return to work on September 7 if the tests are negative.

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The EU's SURE loans are designed to help member states cover sudden spikes in public spending to preserve jobs, such as national part-time financing programmes and support for the self-employed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes on the 25th of August, 2020, four months after the idea was initially put on paper, the European Commission (EC) submitted a proposal to allocate 81.4 billion euros from the SURE instrument to fifteen member states to the council.

According to the proposal, Croatia would receive one billion euros in so-called soft loans to mitigate the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Once the proposal is approved by the council, these loans will help member states to cover sudden spikes in public spending on job preservation, such as national part-time funding programmes and support for the self-employed.

After consulting with the EU member states which requested support and assessing their requests, a maximum of 27.4 billion euros was proposed to help Italy, followed by Spain with 21.3 billion euros, Poland with 11.2 billion euros and Belgium with 7.2 billion euros. 8 billion euros.

4 billion euros were on offer for Romania, 2.7 billion to Greece, 2 billion to the Czech Republic, 1.1 billion to Slovenia, and one hundred million euros less was being offered to Croatia. Portugal and Hungary have already submitted their own respective official applications to Brussels and they are currently in the process of being evaluated. Countries that have not yet submitted theirs are free to submit an official request.

Back in April, the European Commission proposed the SURE instrument, worth 100 billion euros, as part of a response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Loans from this instrument will be based on a system of voluntary guarantees from member states in accordance with the EU's share of gross national income.

“We have to do everything to protect jobs and allow people to earn a living. SURE is a clear symbol of solidarity in an unprecedented crisis,'' said EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

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ZAGREB, Aug 25, 2020 - The head of the national COVID-19 response team, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, reiterated on Monday that as long as it was possible, including in the autumn, measures would be adopted locally and regionally, whereas national measures were least desirable, yet he did not rule them out.

Speaking on public broadcaster HRT, Bozinovic commented on the fact that on Sunday, due to a new border crossing regime, people had to wait almost 14 hours to cross the Slovenian-Austrian border because they had to register with the health authorities.

Enter Croatia system very efficient

He recalled that the Enter Croatia system, set up to prevent congestion at border crossings, had proved to be very efficient and that practically no one had to wait to cross the Croatian border.

Bozinovic also commented on Croatia's being put on the red list by some countries due to spikes in coronavirus cases with the explanation that tourists were infected in Croatia.

He said every country was trying to improve its epidemiological situation as much as possible before the school year.

"In the past few months, Croatia was actually the only country which had a one-quarter larger population than it usually has, unlike other Mediterranean countries which recorded a drop in tourist arrivals of up to 80, 90%, whereas Croatia was a little over 50%, and in August at 67% in relation to last year."

Illegal migration - it would help if Bosnia controlled its eastern border

Bozinovic also commented on the migrant situation, saying there were about 10,000 migrants in Una-Sana Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina at the moment and that this was felt in Croatia too as the pressure on the Croatian border was 20% higher than this time last year.

He said there were no migrant movements during the spring lockdown and that "one can state that when there is the political will to hold back the migrants, and I also mean the authorities in BiH, that's possible."

"Croatian police, as always, is up to the task, preventing illegal migration, and it would help us a lot if BiH started controlling entry into its territory on (its) eastern border, which would then be better also for the people of Una-Sana Canton and other parts of BiH, and thereby in Croatia too."

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August 25, 2020 - Croatia has recorded an increased number of coronavirus infections in the last ten days. However, on Monday, 136 new cases were detected, which is significantly less than in the past few days. The latest on COVID-19 in Croatia.

Index.hr reports that the National Civil Protection Headquarters, along with several scientists, believes that in the autumn, the symptoms will be significantly more severe compared to the symptoms in those infected this summer. In this context, new measures are being prepared, and the leaders of the National Headquarters have repeatedly described what the rules should look like in autumn.

In short and most importantly, there should be no new lockdown. Not all cafes, schools, restaurants, shops should be closed, like in the spring. There should be no passes, bans on leaving the place of residence, or most of what we have witnessed already. However, as Bozinovic emphasized, strict national measures are not completely ruled out, and everything will depend on the situation.

The measures to be adopted should be local. Although a ban on cafe work is currently in force throughout the country, no matter how many people are infected in each area, the Headquarters says that measures at the national level should be an exception.

What it should look like in the future, Bozinovic explained at Monday's 2 pm conference.

"We emphasized that the system will make every effort to avoid closures, to keep it active as much as possible, and for local and county headquarters to detect hotspots more accurately. This would mean that National Headquarters' decisions would not affect the same activities throughout Croatia, but would be aimed at a segment or a specific legal entity where measures of the Croatian Institute of Public Health are not applied as prescribed," said Bozinovic.

He explained that this means the more precise extinguishing of hotspots, which will give local headquarters more work, and expressed the expectation that some local headquarters will soon come up with concrete measures.

"If we see that the majority has similar requirements, a measure can be adopted that will be valid for the entire territory of Croatia. This is the best way to leave as much as possible to function, and to deal with emerging hotspots at 14-day intervals," Bozinovic said. 

Bozinovic emphasized that the meeting with the local headquarters aimed to encourage them to give the National HQ more information so that it could react.

"We deeply believe that we will not enter another lockdown, and we need to report in time for the hotspots so that we do not have to take decisions beyond what is necessary and possible at a given moment," he said.

Speaking about the hotspots, Bozinovic said that weddings spread the virus, but should not be generalized. "There are 300 or so weddings a week in Croatia and not all of them are a source of infection. They will react where something appears, try to fix it, and where we have a favorable situation, let life go as normally as possible," he said.

Bozinovic was also a guest on HRT, where he explained everything a little more. He says that local measures are nothing new, and they were adopted, for example, on Brac and Murter. One such measure is now in force in Imotski.

"This is nothing new, such measures have been so far, but there have been fewer. At the initiative of local, county headquarters, we have always responded, knowing that people in the field have a better insight into the situation and the potential hotspots because from the national level, you can't have such an insight, " Bozinovic told HRT.

Bozinovic admits that national measures have major shortcomings.

"On the other hand, the fact is that when decisions are made at the national level, they are applied indiscriminately to all activities. This was justified during the lockdown, and horizontal measures were taken. However, we now know more about the virus and how it can be can be significantly reduced by responsible behavior.

Given that there is no more lockdown, that there is no intention to close everything, that there is not even a need if the measures are applied, then we will, and we have already announced this, rely on this data from the field.

If local headquarters, which are not only the county but also city and municipal, report that something is happening in certain facilities and activities, we will quickly make decisions that will be applied. That means a lot of decisions. However, it is better to make a lot of decisions that are more precise than one that can hit indiscriminately," says Bozinovic.

Large gatherings and nightclubs are often a source of infection. Bozinovic was asked whether some measures will be adopted at the Croatian level.

“It is not our intention, nor would it be proportionate to make a decision that would hit someone who has been adhering to HZJZ measures all along,” he says.

Bozinovic says the National Headquarters cannot monitor all these gatherings at the local level.

"That is why the responsibility lies with the local headquarters, because they all, especially the county headquarters, have the task of including epidemiologists who know the job, as well as those who are in the National Headquarters," he said.

Bozinovic was asked what if there are 500 newly infected people a day.

"As long as it is possible, and I hope it will always be possible, these measures will be adopted locally, regionally. But we do not exclude national measures either. It is difficult to predict now. I am sure that if everyone engages to the maximum, we will achieve results," said Bozinovic.

The director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, was a guest on RTL Danas. He also commented on this new approach, which will be based on stronger localization of measures.

Asked if he had confidence that the local headquarters would make recommendations validly and promptly, Capak replied that the goal of the meeting and agreement with local headquarters was to lower the level of "snapshots of epidemiological assessments to the local level".

"We believe that those who are on the spot can best identify the problem and the source of the infection and best direct a certain measure to reduce that source of infection and solve the problems. When we have information from local headquarters about it, then the National Headquarters can take more targeted measures. So far, when we have adopted horizontal measures that apply to all counties, there is always the possibility that for someone, this measure may be too strict or they do not need it," he said, adding that the situation is always better somewhere and worse elsewhere.

"This way, we will now have the opportunity to focus on measures where the problem exists and try to solve the problem at its source. Local headquarters always have a member of the epidemiologist," Capak said.

To the additional question that the local headquarters had epidemiologists so far and whether the meeting took place too late, Capak answered that they had communicated with them in the same way so far.

"However, we have now clearly presented this possibility of working to apply the principle of subsidiarity, record the problem and direct the measures where they are most needed," Capak said, adding that the National Headquarters has supported the proposed measures of the local headquarters. He reminded of the cases of Vukovar-Srijem County and weddings or quarantine on Murter, where they obeyed local headquarters in the past.

Asked again if everything could have been done earlier, Capak replied: "We have always reacted by supporting the local headquarters. I think it is not too late. But now we have presented this possibility to all headquarters, that it exists, and that we will we certainly support when they spot a problem and give us suggestions."

Minister Vili Beros also commented on this new approach for Dnevnik N1 television. He says there will be no such closure because the economy could not stand it.

"Measures used to be general and focused on the entire territory of the country, but we have already announced that the measures will be regional and focused on hotspots. That is why we emphasized the role of local and county headquarters, because they know the situation in their areas best and give a framework, but they should detect problems locally and emphasize to us those issues that will fit into the measures," said Beros.

"There were many unknowns in the first part of the battle, but now we know the clinical picture, a number of elements are better known than before. Such closure is not even possible, and the economy would not tolerate it. By selective measures and finding ways to coexist in the second, we will learn to live with that virus as part of the fight," Beros said.

When asked how he evaluates the work of local headquarters, he says that some worked more, some less.

"At the meeting, we emphasized the role of county headquarters. And in Murter, Brac, Istria ... Initiatives were brought at the suggestion of local headquarters. I would not criticize anyone, and we should work in the field and talk to everyone. Communication should be permanent, and the information should be accurate. Some headquarters were more active, some less so, but everyone's task is to prevent the spread of the epidemic and that is why today we have confirmed this once again and consider measures together," the minister said.

Asked if he expects a drop in the number of newly infected, he says he expects it in a week or two, if there are no new epidemiological hotspots because they want to bring the situation under control by the autumn.

"We are currently controlling the epidemiological situation, and our epidemiologists believe that the measures adopted 10 days ago will now show the result and the picture. It is still possible that the number of infected will fluctuate, but that number should start falling. Our goal is to stabilize the epidemiological situation before the school year," said Beros.

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August the 25th, 2020 - Croatia has been forced out of its draconian comfort zone and been made to go digital as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. At the height of the pandemic, even the likes of Fina and MUP, who appear to have a strange fetish for making people line up in airless rooms with numbers in their hands, offered online services much like the rest of the world in the 21st century.

As testing for the new coronavirus is ramped up across the country, an interactive map which offers all the information a potential testee might desire has now been published.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of August, 2020, the National Civil Protection Headquarters has published a list of all centres located across the Republic of Croatia where coronavirus testing can be done, and while that is great, talented Croatian computer scientist Vladimir Vince has created an interactive map with a clear overview of testing sites, addresses and contact information.

“The source for the sites is the Croatian Government’s official website for timely coronavirus information, except in cases where the sites aren't available on the official site but have been independently verified. In this case, the source is the website or information phone line of the institution. This map is for informational purposes only and we can't guarantee the accuracy of the data; we still recommend that you contact the test centres yourself even when ordering a test isn't mandatory,'' it is stated on the new page koronatestiranje.com

On the interactive map, you can find an overview of locations where you can get a PCR test for the new coronavirus across Croatia, with detailed information about addresses, contact information and opening/operation hours.

By clicking on a particular location, you will also receive information on whether you need to make an order for the test, whether a referral is required, whether there is a drive-in option, how long you'll likely wait and similar details. In addition, it is clearly indicated whether or not a particular location is listed on the official website of the Government so as to avoid confusion, N1 reported.

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ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020 - School starts on September 7, and the main rule is to keep one's distance, not to mix pupils from different classes and to step up hygiene, while face masks will be mandatory only for pupils in higher grades if there is not enough space for them to keep their distance, the Education Ministry said on Monday.

The basic rule is that those who are showing symptoms of a communicable disease, are self-isolating or have contracted COVID-19 do not go to school, and to curb the disease it is necessary to keep one's distance, reduce contact between different classes, and step up personal hygiene and that of shared spaces, said Ivana Pavic Simetin, deputy head of the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) and coordinator of the task force in charge of elaborating and proposing school-related public health measures for the start of the 2020/2021 school and academic year.

Pupils should come into contact with a few teachers as possible during one day or period.

"It is recommended to have two or three hours of classes, two shifts, to have lessons start at different times, as well as breaks," Pavic Simetin said while presenting epidemiological guidelines for the start of the school year.

It is also suggested that schools provide replacement rooms in case there are too many pupils in a classroom for them to be at a distance of 1.5 meters in primary and 2 meters in secondary schools.

If there are no other possibilities, it is suggested that the school operates in shifts. For instance, half of the classes could attend school one week, and the second half next week.

In the event of a child exhibiting symptoms, he or she is separated from others and parents come to pick up their child, but there is no need to panic, and an epidemiologist should only be contacted if several children start showing symptoms.

If a child tests positive for COVID-19, the entire class or kindergarten group will undergo self-isolation.

Pavic-Simetin underscored that children were not superspreaders and that they rarely infect their family members or teachers.

Lower grades of primary schools to function as "bubbles"

Education and Science Minister Radovan Fuchs reiterated that classes in lower grades of primary school would follow the "bubble" model so pupils will not leave the classroom, they will have controlled access to the toilet, their teacher will be with them all the time and they will not mix with children from other classes. They will not have to wear face masks, nor will their teacher.

Pupils in higher grades of primary schools will only have to wear masks if there is not enough space for them to maintain physical distance.

Asked about optional subjects, such as religion, foreign languages, and IT, he underscored that there would be no mixing pupils from different classes, so if that was not possible, such classes would be held online.

There will be online classes if any of these two scenarios occurs: an entire class or school is undergoing self-isolation, or a class is being split up to provide more space for physical distancing, Fuchs said.

"That should not be a big problem, the least favorable version is to have children stay home," he underscored.

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ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020 - Minister Nikolina Brnjac on Monday stated that the tourism sector was well prepared for the situation caused by the coronavirus and that the good tourism results, and government and crisis response team's measures had resulted in Croatia being recognized as a safe destination.

Commenting on claims by stakeholders in the tourism sector that it is going to take two to three years for tourism to get back to 2019's levels, Minister Brnjac said after meeting with representatives of the hotel industry, that it was of exceptional importance to "strategically think of further steps so that we can establish a sustainable and resilient system."

It is essential that everyone behaves responsibly and adheres to the recommended measures so that the positive trend in arrivals can continue this season and in that way, set the preconditions to maintain safety in the years to come, she said.

"The 2019 tourism season was above average in everything but the number of arrivals does not mean revenue too. That is why a tourism development strategy is important because it is important to know where we are going, what our objective is, and how to develop Croatia's tourism in the future. This situation with COVID is extraordinary. The tourism sector was exceptionally well prepared and the good results we have in fact, along with the government's measures which saved jobs and the measures by the Civil Protection Authority, have resulted in Croatia being recognized as a safe destination," the tourism minister underlined.

She explained that several ministries were in contact with those countries that have put Croatia on the quarantine list to ask that Croatia be treated according to the current developments in counties as the situation is not the same throughout the country.

"Hence, based on the epidemiological circumstances that will occur we expect other countries to review their lists. We have the biggest number of guests from Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, and considering that we are a car destination, thanks to the Tourist Board's good promotion, we used our advantage and good road network," she concluded.

Director of the Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) Veljko Ostojic said that if the support measures had not been issued in March, the tourism season would definitely not be as it is because "employers would have been forced to lay off a significant number of workers and without workers there cannot be any tourism." 

We need information about job retention measures...because employers have to make certain decisions. It is also important to secure liquidity for the next tourism season and today we talked about the possibility of using EU funds, he said.

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