ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020- Over the past 24 hours, there have been 136 new cases of the coronavirus infection in Croatia, after 1,722 tests were carried out, Health Minister Vili Beros told a press conference of the national COVID-19 response team in Zagreb on Monday.

There are 163 patients in hospitals, including 12 on ventilators. Two more people have died, and those victims were two elderly men.

Currently, there are 2,213 active cases, including 119 health workers, and 7,519 people are self-isolating, 515 of whom are health workers.

Since the first case of the infection was reported, a total of 8,312 people have tested positive for the virus, 5,926 people recovered, and 173 died.

Head of the COVID-19 response team and Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said that given the increase in the number of new infections they had agreed that local teams should define hotspots more precisely.

He expects some teams will come up with concrete measures, and if all teams have similar demands, then a measure can be introduced for the entire country.

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The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works of the global tourism industry and it is continuing to cause rifts between countries who are leaning more and more into the belief that certain decisions are being made with a political nature to them as opposed to an epidemiological one. One such case is that of Austria. Austrian tourists are being pushed from pillar to post as the decisions of their government cause enormous issues.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of August, 2020, the Austrian Government's decision to start placing measures on those wanting to travel to and indeed returning from Croatia has cause an enormous chaos among Austrian tourists. There was a wait yesterday in a queue in at the border crossing in the summer heat in which more than ten hours passed with almost no movement.

''We've been here for 10 hours with three small children. We're slowly running out of food and my children have fallen asleep hungry. Nobody cares, no one has even addressed us so far,'' one of the passengers who got stuck at the Slovenian-Austrian border crossing told 24sata.

Desperate passengers who got stuck at the Jesenice-Karavanke border crossing said that the situation had escalated and that people has started urinating along the highway because there was nowhere else for them to go, they were left without food and water, and children were crying.

''Our biggest problem is that we aren't allowed to stop anywhere in Austria, we've been on the road for more than twelve hours now, and who knows when we will cross the border… Even when we do manage to cross it, we have at least seven hours to drive home. Well, it's impossible to endure this and not be able to stop somewhere and get some sleep,'' said Marko R, who travelled yesterday with his wife and their three small children.

''We also asked the Slovenian police what was going on and why they were not letting us go, and they told us that the Austrians were simply carrying on with their stubbornness because of the whole situation with the coronavirus. We're outraged. This is no longer normal, we just want to get home,'' added Marko.

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As Novac writes on the 23rd of August, 2020, the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association (Glas Udruga Poduzetnika) recently issued the warning that the subsidies for preserving jobs for businesses, issued as a welcome move by the Croatian Government as a packet of economic measures, haven't been paid for as many as two thirds of Croatian companies for July, and for some didn't even receive payments for June.

"In the survey we conducted among our members, as many as 76 percent of them pointed out that they haven't yet received government support for July, while 8 percent of them haven't even received support for June. We're really talking about a large percentage here, and what's even more worrying is the fact that there are funds for it! Namely, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric says as much in the media, but the money obviously isn't reaching the addresses of the users. The Minister is just transfering inquiries into the matter to the Croatian Employment Service (CES),'' stated the aforementioned association.

They also pointed out that the director of the CES states in the media that the grants for June will be paid out as of August the 20th, and so he doesn't see the problem of it being a month late. He explains this by saying that CES employees had to coordinate their vacations themselves.

"It's inadmissible, obviously due to annual leave, to leave the beneficiaries of measures without any funds for the payment of salaries. In this crisis situation, the CES must adjust its resources and the way it works. In this way, an additional gap is created between the public and private sectors, because while some are on paid vacations, others have absolutely nothing,'' they stated.

The association also warned that Croatian companies and other business entitites, who have sent inquiries and complaints to the CES, have been waiting for an answer for more than a month now.

"At a time when they need information more than ever, they can't get it. There are, of course, exceptions, but it seems that the organisation within the CES itself has failed. Recently, on behalf of our members, we sent an inquiry on this topic to the Ministry of Labour. We're waiting for an answer,'' it states in the association's announcement.

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As Morski writes on the 23rd of August, 2020, the beautiful Croatian island of Rab still doesn't have a single recorded case of coronavirus under its belt, reports HRT. Tourists feel safe on the island and Rab's tourist results for this year reflect that and are very good in light of the circumstances. In the first two weeks of August, as much as 80 percent of last year's tourist traffic was realised.

The crystal clear sea of ​​the Rab aquatorium attracted tourists this year just as it has for countless years before it. An Italian family came to spend some time on Rab despite the ongoing pandemic, and they won't let it get in their way.

''I can see that there are a lot of people in Croatia, I don't see them wearing masks, I see a lot of people gathered together, and when I return to Italy I'll have to take a test because a lot of people come back with coronavirus,'' says Monica.

Some tourists, however, are not worried about the situation at all.

''Rab is a beautiful island, with beautiful beaches, and great gastronomy. I'm not afraid of coronavirus, as long as we keep our distance, then everything is fine,'' claims German tourist Thomas. For now, they are extremely satisfied with the tourist season on Rab.

''We're working with 60 percent of last year's results and I think that's very good considering the situation, our expectations were much, much lower,'' admits Larisa Jaska, the owner of a Rab-based restaurant - Astoria.

About 14 thousand tourists are staying in the town of Rab. In the first two weeks of August, they achieved as much as 80 percent of last year's results. But they have to admit that they are afraid for the rest of the season.

''Of course there is fear, there's been fear since the proclamation of the very first case of infection in Croatia, if not before, we're following everything, every press conference held by the National Civil Protection Headquarters, we're looking at the situation in the area,'' says Ivana Matusan, the director of the Rab Tourist Board.

They are also satisfied in Lopar. They have exceeded 300 thousand overnight stays, and currently there are more than 7 thousand guests staying there. But the situation is changing.

''We already have information from these slightly larger renters that tourists from Austria have started to cancel their reservations slowly, diplomacy will have to do its part, and we on the ground can only hope that there will be no major cancellations,'' says Marin Musco, the director of Lopar Tourist Board.

Everyone on the island of Rab is hoping that this season will be dragged out for as long as possible despite the situation.

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ZAGREB, Aug 23, 2020 - There have been 275 new cases of the coronavirus infection in Croatia in the past 24 hours, which is a drop from Saturday, when 306 new cases were reported, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.

The number of active cases has reached 2,203 and one more person has died.

A total of 155 patients are hospitalised, including 12 who are on ventilators.

Currently 7,095 people are self-isolating.

To date, 150,460 people have been tested for the virus, including 1,718 in the last 24 hours.

Since February 25, when the first case was reported, 8,175 people have contracted the disease, of whom 171 have died and 5,801 have recovered.

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August 23, 2020 - If Croatia strictly adheres to measures over the next ten days, can September tourism be saved? A look at the situation in Split.

Slobodna Dalmacija writes that maybe this is not the end, but only a short break in this year's tourist season, because if Croatia manages to reverse the trends in the number of cases in the next 10 days, most of September's tourist traffic can be saved by working and behaving differently. 

This is what Croatian tourism workers and their partners from abroad have said after the UK, Germany and Slovenia placed Croatia, or its regions, on the list of high-risk countries.

This means that after returning from Croatia, their citizens must undergo mandatory self-isolation for 14 days and/or test negative for the coronavirus.

Although some public officials were shocked by the decisions of these countries, from which Croatia received the most guests this summer, no one is seriously surprised by the restrictions because, well, they weren't decided overnight.

This summer, everyone abroad was amazed by the leisure with which Croatia lives and entertains tourists, without fear, without masks, restrictions, or distance. Everything that was banned in Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, in the post-corona era, was allowed in Croatia. And while we interpreted it with our charm and spontaneity, Europe perceived it as - irresponsible.

They monitored, watched, counted and tested citizens on their return from Croatia, and in the end, Croatia arrived in the red. Exclusively and only thanks to too much relaxation and endless tolerance in the name of tourism, weddings, cross-border entries from third countries (BiH, Serbia, Kosovo) and nightclubs were the biggest culprits.

"What is there, is there. You can't go back now. The United Kingdom, Slovenia and Germany have clearly communicated their criteria for putting us on the red list and there are no questions. They also made it clear to us that they would remove us from that list of high-risk countries as soon as the epidemiological situation improved and the number of those infected decreased. So, again, everything depends only on us. Here, the Slovenes removed Portugal and Austria from that list yesterday because their data on the number of patients is much lower. So, we can do that and be on the list of countries again without restrictions for tourists, but only if in the next 10 days we do literally everything we can to make that happen. All these countries have left the door open for us to be quickly removed from the red list if we make the situation better ourselves," says Veljko Ostojic, director of the Croatian Tourism Association.

Mandatory self-isolation and coronavirus testing, which the UK has demanded from its citizens on holiday in Croatia since their return since Saturday, have led to a large number of Britons leaving the Adriatic. There were around 20,000 in the country. The most affected by the UK's decision is certainly Split and Split-Dalmatia County, which welcomes several planes a day on flights from the UK, whose citizens are the most numerous guests in Split.

"Split is certainly the most affected by the decisions of Great Britain and Germany because we welcomed the most guests from those two countries in August, and the announcements and reservations for September were above the planned and expected. But we do not want to talk about the end of the season in any way because we have not given up on tourism even in more complex situations and times. We continue to be present in all markets important to us, primarily those with which Split is connected with about 60 airlines. We hope and will do everything to make the epidemiological situation better and that this is the reason for the arrival of guests who planned to spend September in our city," said Alijana Vuksic, director of the Split Tourist Board.

And it is the air connections with Europe, which have been heading to Split since July, that have brought Split to the very top of traffic in Croatia in August. Thus, Split, as in the best tourist years, was in third place in terms of tourist visits in August, just behind Rovinj and Porec. Airlines to Split have been confirmed for the whole of September with excellent aircraft occupancy, so the question remains whether the new situation will change those plans.

At Split's Resnik Airport, the two largest markets in terms of the number of passengers are those from Germany and Great Britain, from where there are a dozen daily flights to Split from several airlines. In August, instead of the planned about 150 thousand passengers, 250 thousand of them arrived in Split, while for September, about 130 thousand passengers were planned to land at Resnik.

However, as both Germany and the United Kingdom update their list of high-risk countries every seven to 10 days, if the situation in Croatia improves in the coming days, tourist traffic in September and already made reservations can still be achieved.

Slovenia also stated that it is ready to react quickly and put Croatia back in the yellow travel zone if the figures confirm it.

"There are currently about 100,000 Slovenes in Croatia and they should return in the next three days. Slovenia wanted to bring the epidemiological situation under control before the start of the school year, now that 80 percent of Slovenes were already on the Adriatic. We in Slovenia really hope that in the coming days, the numbers of cases in Croatia will start to drop and that September will be the most beautiful month of vacation for Slovenes on the Adriatic. There are a lot of older Slovenes and those with preschool children who come to Croatia in September and I believe that will be the case. Now it is like this; we hope that this is a temporary closure and that the unhindered arrival of Slovenes in Croatia will continue again soon. Our government updates the list every week and as soon as Croatia has better numbers, it will be removed for sure. No one is interested in this situation and we hope that it will change quickly," said Primoz Longyka, editor of the Slovenian tourist magazine "Fokus Plus", a good connoisseur of Croatian tourism.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of August, 2020, the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, called on young people who have been in nightclubs to avoid contact with the elderly when they returned home.

''We’ve introduced a few measures in regard to clubs, and we have news from the field that says they're good. But there are also young people who go on to cafes and restaurants after clubs, which can be in operation for longer, which isn't good,'' said Krunoslav Capak.

He warned that some weddings are being moved and organised in Herzegovina due to the measures placed on weddings in Croatia, and that that must absolutely be avoided at all costs.

''Weddings there are cheaper in big salons. This should be avoided. We intend to gather the heads of local headquarters together and come to an agreement in which they adopt those measures issued by the National Civil Protection Headquarters in terms of restricting the work of some facilities and restricting family gatherings,'' explained Krunoslav Capak.

He believes that a good balance has been struck between the anti-epidemic measures and tourism. He expects the season to continue for a few more weeks. "The measures are good and most tourists feel safe," Capak said.

Journalists were interested in how many cases of infection are associated with the feast of the Assumption and Alka in Sinj.

"I was told from local headquarters that there are two infected people in the continental part of the country who don't know where they got infected, and they were at Alka in Sinj," Krunoslav Capak said.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that the decision on the tourist season was political. Journalists asked Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic what other politically motivated decisions were made by the National Civil Protection Headquarters.

''There are no such decisions. Tourism is an important branch in Croatia, but we opened on the basis of scientific data that the virus isn't so dangerous in the summer, which is reflected in the clinical picture of patients. It was an epidemiological assessment that it was possible to open up. When you have low numbers for days and tourism as the main economic branch, then it's only logical,'' said Bozinovic.

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ZAGREB, Aug 22 - A record 306 new cases of the coronavirus infection have been detected in the past 24 hours, which puts the number of active cases in Croatia at 2,052, the national COVID-19 response team said on Saturday.

Of the new cases, 143 are undergoing hospital treatment, including 12 who are on ventilators. One more person has died.

Since February 25, when the first case of the coronavirus infection was reported in the country, 7,900 people have contracted the disease, of whom 170 have died while 5,678 have recovered.

A total of 6,868 people are self-isolating.

To date, 148,742 people have been tested for the virus, including 2,574 in the last 24 hours.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of August, 2020, Health Minister Vili Beros commented on the recent jump in the rate of newly infected people for N1. On the 20th of August, Croatia recorded a significant increase...

"I was surprised by the numbers because they weren't like that in the morning, however, later on, some more data came from certain hotspots. We're thinking about all the elements and we're trying to find a way to stop it,'' Vili Beros said.

Regarding the session of the Slovenian Government and the decision on quarantine for Slovenes returning from Croatia, he said that he has been on phone with the Slovenian minister just an hour previously.

"He promised to report back to me when he finished, he hasn't responded yet," Beros said as he left the government building just before Slovenia put Croatia on the red list.

Some time later, Minister Vili Beros told RTL that we must be concerned as long as the virus is among us and that he is once again calling for responsible behaviour.

"For two days in a row, the numbers have been higher than 200, then we had 255, so we've reached the cumulative rate of patients in 14 days, which is 47, and that is significant. However, it's good that most of the hotspots are under control and that we know the sources of the infection and the contacts of these people, and our epidemiologists, just like before, are doing extremely valuable work to stop the spread of the infection,'' said Vili Beros, adding that their efforts will not be enough on their own, and that we must act responsibly.

"Many young people who were on the Adriatic coast and, understandably, relaxed, are now returning to their homes inland and there is a danger that the virus, if they're infected, will be transmitted to older people and their compromised immune systems. That's a new and additional danger,'' said Vili Beros.

Asked if we can expect further growth in the number of infected people, he said it is difficult to say. "The recent numbers are certainly a consequence of the fact that more than 2,300 tests have been carried out, by far the most so far. With such a large number of tests being taken, it's to be expected that the number of new cases will be slightly higher,'' he said, adding that we have to monitor the situation from day to day and also from hour to hour.

“My earlier warning is a step in that direction. The virus is transmitted in this way from the younger population, which is what we've witnessed in the last 20 days, because the average was, first 31, and then 36, these are relatively younger people. Now, with their return home inland, the virus can be transmitted to the elderly population, which wouldn't be good," the minister said.

He also answered the question of whether even more people should be being tested, especially since there are many asymptomatic cases of coronavirus.

"That question has been circulating since the beginning. We had a strategy that initially yielded good results. Many scientists agree that the first wave and this next wave we expect in September won't have exactly the same epidemiological characteristics. It's very ,uch possible that at some point we'll decide to start testing more,'' said Beros.

In just one day, several European countries, Great Britain, Germany and Slovenia put Croatia on their red lists. Asked if we were a safe country, Vili Beros replied: "We can't escape from our numbers of newly infected people. It is completely legitimate for these countries, to which their inhabitants return from holidays in Croatia, to take care of their health and as such they've introduced certain criteria,'' he noted.

"We've reached some of the limits with our numbers in the past few days and they reacted as they reacted," he said.

"Our idea was to warn everyone, ie to point out that the epidemiological situation in the whole of Croatia is not the same and that there are counties where the epidemiological situation in the last month is perfect. However, there are also counties, such as Sibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia, which show slightly worse results,'' he said. It was Germany that singled out these two counties in its decision, as opposed to the entire country.

He also answered the question of what the epidemiological situation should be in order to postpone schooling. He said that a working group in the Ministry of Education is discussing this and that there are two epidemiologists in that working group. "Together with education experts, they'll come up with criteria that will describe the epidemiological picture that could possibly delay the start of classes," Beros said, adding that he didn't expect that.

"If everything goes according to some of our predictions, the school year should start on schedule," concluded Vili Beros.

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Croatian tourism is taking a hit as several European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany which are of extreme importance to Croatia, have either placed the entire country on a red list, or have done so with popular regions.

As Morski writes on the 21st of August, 2020, in line with the recent announcements from numerous European countries, Slovenia introduced a restriction for Croatia. The Slovenian Government prescribed that from Tuesday, all those returning from the country must go into two-week self-isolation. After Italy and Austria, restrictions were introduced today by Germany, the United Kingdom and Slovenia.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 20,000 Germans have visited Split. Now there are about a thousand and a half more in the city, reports HRT.

''We know everything, today Split was declared risky. We're going to stay, we'll get tested on the way back, we're not going to leave ahead of time,'' said Sandra, a tourist from Germany.

It is what it is, they say in Sibenik. Now we need to save the situation and try to keep hold of our guests, at least with cheap testing.

''Even at the expense of the hosts, to try to prevent at least a part of the guests from leaving,'' said Dino Karadjole, director of the Tourist Board of the City of Sibenik.

Austrians staying in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County are being tested to avoid having to go into a two week quarantine when they return home.

''It's passing quickly, I've already missed some people, I'm waiting for my boyfriend to pay for the testing. In half an hour I think we'll manage to solve everything,'' said Irina, a tourist from Austria.

Tourists from Slovenia, Croatia's immediate neighbour to the north and its second emitting market, are also leaving Croatia. If he doesn't leave Croatia by the end of the week, Matej will have to be quarantined upon returning home to Slovenia. He says he feels safe and is reluctant to make tracks back home.

- Yes, why not, I'm taking care of myself and of others, and that's especially important to me,'' said Matej Koenig. Out of the current number of 7,000 tourists staying in Fazana, Istria, 800 are Slovenian nationals.

''The owners of holiday homes and apartments turn to us in particular, they come to the Tourist Board and say they want to shorten their stay until tomorrow,'' revealed Melita Perokovic, the director of the Fazana Tourist Board.

On the island of Vir, the situation has gone from great to somewhat sad. Their great season is over, Vir locals say. Since the beginning of the year, they have been visited by more than 15,000 Slovenes and have made a success of what was set to be absolutely dire in earlier predictions.

''At the moment, there are maybe another 500 Slovenian tourists staying on the island and a good part of them will leave during the day and will keep going home until Sunday, unfortunately,'' said Srdjan Liveric, the director of the Vir Tourist Board. Some are leaving, others are coming. At the border at Gorican there are queues at the entrance to Croatia, some people spend time there, waiting for more than an hour.

''We didn't even think of spending our summer somewhere else, we wanted to come to Croatia, we love it,'' said Dajana, a tourist from Romania.

''We're going to the vicinity of Split, for ten days. We go to our friends and stay in a secluded house,'' added Agnieska, a tourist from Poland.

In the queues along the roads heading for Croatia, Poles, Czechs, Romanians, Hungarians are among the most numerous who are looking forward to a holiday in Croatia without the burden of fear of the virus.

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