August 22, 2020 - If you are not allowed to party on land, you can party at sea! That is, if you're in Zadar.

Namely, Slobodna Dalmacija reports that after the National Headquarters banned the operation of all bars and nightclubs after midnight last week, the bar and club owners in Zadar figured out a way to keep the parties going. Now, all the fun (and earnings) from nightclubs and bars have simply moved to... party boats!

As most of the owners had to close their clubs, which left them with a considerable loss in business, two Zadar clubs decided to rent excursion boats for the weekend, which will sail through the Zadar archipelago and act as a floating club.

"The coronavirus should be stopped for all people, but of all the measures that were adopted and in force, the most abused group of people were caterers trying to do something and work," says Pjerino Bebic, co-owner of the popular Zadar club Opera, who explained that the club came up with the idea of a “party boat” as it is advertised on their Facebook page.

"We can’t work at the club so then we partnered with boats. We will organize excursions for our clients and guests. It has nothing to do with a nightclub, but we also need to earn something. This way, we will use our brand to attract people. Unfortunately, we will not use this to attract a large number of people, although we realistically could. We will have a maximum of 150 people on board.

We will adhere to all prescribed epidemiological measures, we will compile a list of all passengers, their temperature will be measured at the entrance to the boat, just as it was measured at the entrance to the club, tables will be at the prescribed distance, and we will finish at midnight because the headquarters informed us to," said Bebic, adding that the event was reported to the Civil Protection as a gathering of people.

"We have done everything so that no one can object to us. We have to work in limited possibilities and now we are looking to do no damage, and the earnings are not great. We have to maintain the brand, and we hope that we will be able to cover all costs," says Bebic.

"I don't want to allude to anything or anyone, but I watched footage from cafes in Austria and Germany, I was also at the Sinjska Alka, where people were having fun and nothing happened to anyone, and I don't know why we can't, according to possibilities and recommendations, work. At our club, we measure temperature, all employees work with masks, we have liters and liters of disinfectant. In a club that accepts 700 people, we let only 200 in because of all the measures imposed. There is no profit in such mathematics, and you must have the same number of employees. We have fully adapted to everything that is prescribed, but let us make money," concluded Bebic.

Along with Opera, the popular Zadar bar Hype also planned a fun tour of the Zadar archipelago.

"We have to work because otherwise, we cannot survive, but we will do everything in accordance with the prescribed epidemiological measures. Just as we’ve been working at the club lately, so will we onboard; measure the temperature of all visitors, distribute masks and gloves, make a list of all those who come, keep a distance between the tables, and everything takes place in the open part of the ship," Hype said, adding that rents, utilities and salaries must be settled, and there is no help from the state.

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ZAGREB, Aug 21, 2020 - Croatia has registered a record high in daily cases with 265 new infections, which was to be expected given the tourist season, the national COVID-19 response team said on Friday, calling on young people who had been in high-risk situations to avoid contact with others.

The head of the Croatian Public Health Institute, Krunoslav Capak, reiterated that they had introduced measures for night clubs and said that the situation on the ground showed that that had been a good move, but there were some "acts of resourcefulness".

It is not good, he said, that young people are moving from clubs to bars and restaurants which are allowed to work longer. There are also cases of wedding parties being moved from Dalmatia to Herzegovina, he said.

Therefore, the national COVID-19 response team will on Monday meet with local teams to adopt measures that would apply locally and restrict the working hours of facilities and reduce gatherings.

Asked about infections related to the Feast of the Assumption of Mary and the Sinjska Alka tournament, Capak said that there were two people in one continental county who did not know where they had got infected, and they had been to those events, but there were no cases in Split-Dalmatia County related to the events.

He noted that the team had achieved a good balance between opening up in the season and protecting people's health. He believes the measures are good and that most tourists feel safe and hope that the season will continue for a few more days or weeks.

Asked about his statement that the laid-back personality of Dalmatian people was to blame for the latest coronavirus statistics, Capak said that when he had spoken of relaxed behavior he had meant it in a good way, "except during a period of infection when caution is necessary."

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ZAGREB, Aug 21, 2020 - The head of the national COVID-19 response team, Davor Bozinovic, said on Friday that decisions regarding the coronavirus epidemic were not political decisions.

"Tourism is an important economic sector in Croatia, however, we opened up based on scientific data about the virus not being so dangerous in the summertime, as evidenced by the latest clinical symptoms in patients. The assessment that it is possible to open up was an epidemiological one," Bozinovic told reporters when asked to comment on Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's statement that the decision on the tourist season was a political one and to say which other decisions were political.

Asked why the situation was problematic in Split-Dalmatia County, where earlier in the day 103 new cases of the COVID-19 disease were reported, Bozinovic said that there were more than 800,000 people in the county at present, that its towns and communities have much fewer residents in the winter, and that a large number of people from neighboring countries were staying there.

Commenting on scientist Ivan Djikic's statement that it had been wrong to allow night clubs to operate, Bozinovic said that the COVID-19 response team had adopted the necessary measures, carried out controls, and when cases of infection were detected, it banned night clubs from working after midnight.

The measures imposed by the team resulted in a drop in new infections, he said.

Bozinovic also said that they were not worried about reports that a Facebook initiative would file a class-action lawsuit against the COVID-19 response team and that its objective was to maintain a balance.

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ZAGREB, Aug 21, 2020 - Croatia has 265 new cases of the coronavirus infection, the highest daily number so far, but Health Minister Vili Beros does not consider this to be a significant departure from recent trends and believes that it is due to the summer tourist season.

Speaking at a regular news conference of the national COVID-19 response team on Friday, Beros said that 50% or 137 of the new cases were people who were in self-isolation, which, he said, showed that epidemiologists were doing a good job.

Beros noted that 1,647 tests had been conducted in the past 24 hours and that currently, 6,446 people were self-isolating.

There has been one fatality in the past 24 hours, an elderly woman.

The death toll stands at 169. Eleven people have been hospitalized since yesterday, which puts the total number of hospitalized patients at 135, including 12 who are still on ventilators, Beros said.

There are currently 1,842 active cases of the COVID-19 disease in the country.

Beros believes that the latest figures do not depart radically from those in recent days and that they are due to Croatia being open to tourists, with a large number of foreign nationals having vacationed on its coast.

The increase in infections is certainly also due to "a certain kind of behavior in the summertime," said Beros.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 20th of August, 2020, just a couple of days ago, with 219 new cases of infection with the new coronavirus, Croatia recorded a record number of new cases, and the number of citizens being tested for coronavirus is increasing. The director of the ''Dr. Fran Mihaljevic'' Clinic for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic, explained for Dnevnik Nova TV that the increased number of new cases is mostly not the result of an increased number of tests.

''We test as needed. People recognise when they need to test more and they accordingly. The situation is definitely different now. In the first phase, we had few patients and few asymptomatics, so we went in part to test those with clinical indications and those who had close contacts. Now there are many more asymptomatic and with mild symptoms, but people are aware that they are returning to their families, so they themselves go more for testing,'' explained Alemka Markotic.

She pointed out that the prices of tests have dropped compared to the amount they once costed in the spring, so now people can be tested on their own initiative. "We can provide the lowest price of 501 kuna. If people suspect that they have been in risky situations or if they have extremely mild symptoms, for which their doctor believes that they don't have to get a referral, they can come for testing, and they can also come for an assessment,'' explained Alemka Markotic.

"There is a lot of pressure on both the city and the state public health institute. The clinic currently tests 250 to 300 people a day, mostly people from hospitals. It definitely has enough capacity, we have the largest device that can test up to 1400 samples, we can cover some tourists and some citizens,'' she assured.

When it comes to Slovenia, which has announced that it will put Croatia on the red list, Alemka Markotic says that there are still many tourists staying in Croatia from Slovenia. "Their general impression is that they are safe in Croatia. Look at the amount of these people, if you realise that there were 300,000 people, about 50 of them got sick, that's nothing compared to that number,'' she said.

When asked what kind of winter awaits us, Alemka Markotic said that today there are currently more patients with milder symptoms. "In the winter, we'll have to deal with the situation much more seriously," she said, adding that the health system is preparing for that.

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August 21, 2020 -  Why does Dalmatia have such poor numbers, much worse than Istria, Primorje, and other tourist regions? A closer look at COVID-19 in Croatia.

Jutarnji List writes that Germany, the country from which the largest number of tourists come to Croatia, decided on Thursday to put two Croatian counties on the red list - Split-Dalmatia and Šibenik-Knin.

These are counties that have an increasing number of infected people from week to week and are the main reason why the whole country has been placed on the red list of other countries that are important to Croatia, such as Italy and Slovenia.

But why does Dalmatia have such bad numbers, many times worse than Istria and Primorje, and also tourist regions in which, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, there are more tourists this year than in the south? The numbers are laid out quite clearly in the Official Croatian COVID-19 weekly report, and illustrated by the table below: 

In short, experts believe it is a combination of recklessly relaxed and casual behavior of Dalmatians and relatively mild measures and recommendations of the National Headquarters, which has always tried to balance so as not to jeopardize the season.

They wanted to save the tourist season as much as possible, all doors were open, the result was more than 50 percent of revenue last year, which is ultimately extremely good for the state budget, and covers the costs that await us until the end of the year. However, also the fact that in the last 14 days, including Thursday, Croatia had a cumulative 47.2 infected per 100,000 inhabitants. This is a high number that puts Croatia in an unenviable 7th place among EU countries.

We could have expected that the number would increase by reopening, but the other option was quarantine, which in the end would not be good for either the economy or the citizens. Namely, even this restriction on night clubs is not a sufficient obstacle for the spread of the coronavirus,  when a million people from abroad and from the continent come to the Adriatic. The most important thing for them is not the sun and the sea, but socializing, and they will do it either in restaurants or somewhere on the beach.

"Of course, that close contact increases the number of infected people," explains Dr. Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health. He adds that despite a large number of infected people, most of their contacts are being managed so that newly infected people will arrive from that ‘cluster’ in the coming days, as many have returned to their places of residence.

New possible coronavirus-related measures and strategies will be discussed at the Government's COVID-19 Scientific Council next Tuesday.

Austria, Italy, Slovenia and the UK reacted very quickly to Croatia's large numbers by putting Croatia on the red list, so their citizens are leaving the Adriatic to avoid a 14-day quarantine, and new tourists from those countries will certainly not come this season. Some tourists are being tested for coronavirus in Croatia, so there is currently a real state of siege in public health institutes.

The Zagreb Teaching Institute for Public Health, "Dr. Andrija Štampar", says that in the past few days, they have taken more than 1000 swabs, most of which are Croatian citizens returning to work abroad, but there are also foreigners. The Split institute is also crowded, mainly because hotel houses organize testing for guests. It is estimated that more than 500 citizens are tested daily, of which about fifty are foreigners.

In the last 14 days in Split-Dalmatia County, 79 positives per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded, which is an absolute record since the beginning of the epidemic. That’s the figure until August 17, and it has grown significantly in the past three days.

“Currently, 15 patients with COVID-19 are being treated in our clinic, and two of our patients are on a respirator.

Most of the patients are older than 50 years, but there are also younger ones, but their clinical picture can be said to be moderately severe," says Dr. Ivo Ivic, Head of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Center Split. He adds that there could be more elderly patients soon, because young people, unfortunately, will surely infect their elderly family members as well.

Split-Dalmatia County is followed by Sibenik-Knin County with 61.91 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while in Zadar, it was 35.09 cases.

Vukovar-Srijem County, with 68.02 patients per 100,000 inhabitants, is also included in this group of fast-growing corona cases, because according to data, more than half of the positives come from vacations.

At the same time, the three counties of the northern Adriatic are not among those in which tourists and vacations activate the virus. For example, in Istria County in 9 days, there are 9.58 infected per 100,000 inhabitants, or eight times less than in Split-Dalmatia County.

In Primorje-Gorski Kotar, it is 12.67, and in Lika-Senj 22.13 per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a lot for that county, and the reason, according to the numbers, is Zrce. Namely, 159 foreigners who became infected in Croatia were reported to the European EWRS system in just over a month, namely 69 Austrians, 52 Slovenes, 13 Germans, 22 Britons and three Italians. Among the reported infected foreigners, most of them fell ill in Novalja, 71, and Makarska and Split 65.

From these data, it is evident that large gatherings, regardless of whether they are nightclubs, weddings, or birthday parties, are a source of infection for a large number of people. That is why a week ago, the National Civil Protection Headquarters limited the working hours of nightclubs until midnight, and even before the number of those who can stay indoors in those clubs.

However, at that time, there were already too many infections so that this would not drastically affect the overall picture of the coronavirus in Croatia. As expected, many caterers were not pleased. Some even said that these were communist moves, because they were not all the same; some respected the measures already introduced, and they were punished in the same way.

However, after opening nightclubs in the summer, it is evident that the Headquarters will have to weigh the good and bad and learn from this experience to determine what behavior will be allowed during the winter.

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August 20, 2020 - The United Kingdom has put Croatia on the quarantine list due to the deteriorating epidemiological situation in the country. 

Vecernji List reports that as it was announced from the local Ministry of Transport, British tourists and others staying in Croatia are invited to return home immediately because the mandatory 14-day isolation for all returnees from Croatia begins to apply.

Data shows we need to remove Croatia, Austria and Trinidad & Tobago from our list of #coronavirus Travel Corridors to keep infection rates DOWN. If you arrive in the UK after 0400 Saturday from these destinations, you will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) August 20, 2020

According to information from the UK, there are currently 20,000 tourists from that country in Croatia. Britain views Croatia as a whole, without regional or county demarcations, and warns that the situation has deteriorated dramatically compared to three weeks ago.

They refer to the latest data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, according to which Croatia has recorded 37.7 confirmed infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks. For comparison, Britain records 21.2 infected, Slovenia 12.8, and Sweden 39.5.

More info soon...

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ZAGREB, Aug 20, 2020 - Despite everything, Croatia is having a good tourism season this year, and we are doing our best to ensure its continuation, including constant communication with partners on foreign markets on a safe stay and the epidemiological situation, Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Thursday.

"Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, forecasts for this tourism year indicated a fall in tourism turnover of up to 70%, nevertheless, better results have been recorded and by mid-August 52% of last year's bed nights were generated, noting that for three months, March, April, and May and even the start of June, there was no turnover at all," said the minister.

She added that in July, 62% of bed nights were generated compared to July 2019 and 69% to date in August.

Since the start of the year, 6.2 million visitors were recorded in Croatia and 41.6 million bed nights. Currently, there are about 700,000 holidaymakers in Croatia and in addition to local guests the majority of tourists are from Germany (177K), Slovenia (80K), Poland (73K), Czech Republic (54K) and Italy (32K), she said.

675,000 tourists in Croatia per day on average since reopening of borders

Since Croatia opened its border there have been 675,000 tourists in Croatia per day on average with the maximum number in one day of 850,000 being recorded in the first week of August.

The best results have been achieved by family-run farms and holiday houses, achieving 80% of last year's turnover, followed by nautical tourism with a turnover of 70% y-o-y and boat charter generating a turnover of 60% on the year as they provide accommodation with the possibility of keeping a distance.

"A record number of mega yachts have sailed into Croatia this year, about 200, and thanks to being well prepared and adapting, hotels and camps have achieved excellent results particularly now in August generating 55% of last year's turnover, and current capacity utilisation is about 70 to 80 percent," Brnjac explained.

She reiterated that she was in constant contact with the relevant bodies abroad and was monitoring trends in countries where tourists are coming from.

"I believe that our international partners will recognise our measures and activities and take them into account before making any decisions, while Croatia will continue to do everything so that those international institutions have precise information based on which they will decide which countries to include on lists of safe destinations," she said.

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ZAGREB, Aug 20, 2020 - The Croatian National Tourism Board director, Kristjan Stanicic on Thursday said that decisions to put Croatia on lists of unsafe countries for travel would certainly affect tourism turnover.

The German foreign ministry on Thursday issued a warning against travelling to Sibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia counties because of the increasing number of new coronavirus infections. "Unnecessary travel such as for tourism to these areas is not recommended," the ministry said.

Commenting on the decision to Hina, Stanicic said that the fact that Germany had not declared all of Croatia as unsafe was "a mitigating circumstance."

"We know how important the German market is for Croatia's tourism from which we have generated 3.6 million bed nights in August thus far, which in the current circumstances is an excellent 93% of last year's results. As such, I once again appeal for everyone to adhere to the prescribed epidemiological measures because at the moment that is the fundamental precondition to continue achieving tourism turnover in the country," Stanicic said.

Putting Croatia on the red list in the UK will change travel plans to Croatia

Commenting on the latest announcement from the United Kingdom that Croatia could be put on the red list of countries due to allegedly imported cases of the infection, Stanicic said that it could potentially mean British tourists leaving earlier or changing their plans to travel to Croatia.

"The United Kingdom is one of the more important markets for Croatia's tourism and the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected arrivals. In circumstances when until mid-June it was almost impossible to travel anywhere in Europe and with the exceptionally strong contraction of air transport, the British market did not result in any strong activation. Hence, since the start of the year until now we have had about 97,000 arrivals and 483,000 bed nights from that market, which is about 16% of last year's turnover and the arrivals from the UK rank 12th among foreign tourists," Stanicic explained.

The director of the HTZ branch in Great Britain, Daria Reic, has informed that interest by British visitors for Croatia is still strong and partners are informing of good occupancy rates in planes.

"We are receiving a lot of calls from potential passengers enquiring about the current situation in Croatia and our partners are informing us of very good bookings for the remainder of August and September," Reic revealed.

She said that Brits are by no means happy with their government's decision, adding that the general opinion in public is that no one wants to go into 14-day quarantine.

Currently, 17,000 Brits are spending holidays in Croatia

If the government does indeed make such a decision there could be a drastic drop in tourists while Stanicic said that currently there are about 17,000 Brits in Croatia with about 56% in rooms and apartments, 29% in hotels, 7% in nautical accommodation, 5% in camps and 3% in non-commercial facilities.

Most of them are vacationing in Dubrovnik, Split, Konavle, Hvar, and Pula.

We are doing our utmost to precisely inform foreigners in the UK and elsewhere

Both Reic and Stanicic underscore that the HTZ is cooperating with diplomatic representations in the UK and elsewhere in the world to provide accurate information based on which they can then decide on including countries on the list of risky or safe countries.

"Unfortunately, we cannot impact a final decision and apart from the epidemiological situation, their decisions take into account the economic interests of each individual country. That is particularly obvious in the fact that some countries have declared us to be a risky destination (Slovenia, Austria, Italy) while others consider us to be a safe tourist destination and their tourists are enjoying their vacation in Croatia (Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and so on)," said Stanicic.

"We will continue to promote Croatia as a safe and stable tourist destination, particularly through online channels and we have launched an initiative for some local tourism boards and companies to organise testing in their areas for all interested tourists so they can continue their vacation undisturbed," he concluded.

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August 20, 2020 - The second official COVID-19 Croatia weekly report has been released by the Koronavirus government website, covering August 11-17.

A total of 59 people died in this epidemic wave. Most of the deceased had significant comorbidities or were of advanced age. The average age of the deceased in this epidemic wave is 77.8 years. Fourteen people died on a respirator.

*number in the last 24 hours

There are currently 22 testing places in the Republic of Croatia that perform RT-PCR analysis and collect samples. All processed samples enter national Croatian Health Insurance Institute platform, which is accessible to all county public health institutes. County public health institutes submit data about positive cases, sources of infection and hotspots as part of their daily reports to the Croatian Institute of Public Health. The Croatian Institute of Public Health collects information about hotspots, hospital treatment of COVID-19 positive persons, COVID-19 positive patients on respirators and the deceased.

Daily report
In the past 24 hours, 85 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection were recorded and the number of currently ill (active cases) in Croatia today is a total of 1,236. Among them, 126 patients are in hospital and 11 of them are on a respirator. The average age of new patients in the past 24 hours was 33.6 years. There’re no new deceased. Since February 25th 2020, when the first case of infection was recorded in Croatia, a total of 6,656 people infected with the new coronavirus have been recorded until today, of whom 166 have died and 5,254 have recovered. There are currently 4,516 people in self-isolation. Until today, a total of 138,647 people has been tested and 990 in the last 24 hours. The share of confirmed cases in the total number of persons tested is 4.77%. The average age of confirmed cases is 44.49 years, and 50.62% of confirmed cases are men and 49.38% women.

Important numbers

• the number of new confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days: 33.32/100,000
• the number of new cases in intensive care per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days: 0.3/100,000
• the number of tested persons in the last 24 hours, the overall share of confirmed cases in the last 14 days: 990, 8.2%.

Epidemiological situation in Croatia

Geographical distribution of new COVID-19 cases by counties
A total of 59 people died in this wave of epidemics. Most of the people had significant comorbidities or were of advanced age. The average age of the deceased in this wave of epidemics is 77.8 years. Nineteen people died on a respirator.Overview of the situation by counties

Table 1. Total number of patients and number of patients in the last week by counties, total rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants and rates of confirmed cases in the last 7 and last 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants

Epidemic by weeks, from 19 th – 25 th week of the epidemic
In the period from 29 th of June to 17 th of August 2020, the number of cases per week (from the 19 th to the 25 th week of the epidemic) was from 460 to 967 and the rate from 11.3 to 23.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of tests performed per week was ranged from 7957 to 9525 and the share of positive tests in those tested per week ranged from 5.8 to 10.2%. During this period, the weekly number of cases and the percentage of positive tests in the weekly number of tested varied. An overview is given in Table 2.

Table 2. Overview of the number of confirmed cases by weeks, from week 19. – 25.

In the period from 29 th of June to 17 th of August 2020, the number of cases per week (from the 19 th to the 25 th week of the epidemic) was from 460 to 967. The number of deceased varied from 6-9 and showed increase in the number compared to 22 nd and 23 rd week of the epidemic. The number of deceased who were on a respirator at the time of death ranged from 1 to 5, with an increase in that number in the 22 nd week of the epidemic when there were 6 people on a respirator. The share of deceased on the respirator ranged in the weekly number of deaths from 16.7-55.6%. The mean age of deceased was approximately the same except in the 21 st week of the epidemic, when the mean age of death cases was 69 years.The death rate ranged from 0.1 in the 19 th week of the epidemic to 0.2 in the 25 th week of the epidemic with an increase in the 22 nd and 23 rd week of the epidemic when it was 0.4 and 0.3. An overview is given in Table 3.

Table 3. Overview of patients on respirator and deaths by weeks, from week 19. – 25.

Died from COVID-19, 29 th of June – 17 th of August 2020, age and sex
A total of 59 people died in this wave of epidemics. Most of the people who died had significant comorbidities or were of advanced age. The mean age of the deceased in this wave of epidemics is 77.8 years. Nineteen people died on a respirator. An overview of the situation is given in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Age and sex distribution of deaths from COVID-19 in the period 29 th June – 17 th August 2020

Table 4. Overview of the number of new cases, 7-day rate and deaths by weeks, from week 19. -25.

Hotspots

Cases of COVID-19 have been reported in all counties in the last week. In counties with a relatively small population (Ličko – senjska County and Požeško – slavonska County), even a small increase in the number of new cases can lead to a significant increase in the 7-day incidence.Continental Croatia
The largest number of new cases in continental Croatia is in the City of Zagreb, Osječko – baranjska County and Zagrebačka County. Nightclubs on the coast are still active hotspots and now is time to return from holidays and vacations and it is expected that the largest share of new cases will be associated directly with nightclubs. These are mostly young people who infect their contacts upon return, mostly family members. In addition to cases and their contacts related to holidays and going out to the nightclubs, there were also imported cases of people who were tested for symptoms and did not have a significant epidemiological history. The situation in Vukovarsko - srijemska County, in which was a large increase in the number of new cases because of the spreading of the infection at weddings in recent weeks, has been brought under control and the daily numbers of new patients in that county have decreased. Grouping of patients was recorded at a wedding in Zagrebačka County, where guests from Karlovačka County were also present. The hotspot was brought under control.Coastal Croatia
The highest number of new cases was recorded in the Splitsko - dalmatinska, Šibensko - kninska and Zadarska County. There is still a large number of recorded cases and their contacts related to nightclubs. In the Splitsko - dalmatinska County we recorded groupings of patients around small family gatherings and one wedding. Groupings around weddings were also recorded in the Šibensko - kninska County. In the northern part of the Adriatic (Istria and Primorsko - goranska County), the epidemiological situation is mostly calm and cases related to holidays and night outs in Dalmatia, or contacts of previously ill cases or imported cases have been reported.The described hotspots were brought under control, but the spreading of the virus at these sites contributed to an increase in the 14-day cumulative rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases. All the described hotspots did not disrupt the availability or functioning of the health system or any other economic sector, i.e. public service.

Tourists

The table shows the number of infected foreign nationals according to the place of infection. Data refers to the period 7 th of July 2020 – 17 th of August 2020 and was collected via EWRS system.

In addition to the above, 'several' cases from the territory of the Republic of Croatia were also reported in Italy.

Measures

Measures to maintain physical distance, maintain hand hygiene and disinfection are still in force. Also, it is mandatory to wear face masks or medical masks indoors for all health workers and professionals, employees who work in social care system, and the ones who work in hospitality facilities.Figure 2 shows the measures and dates of their implementation in comparison with the number of patients, recovered, deceased and active cases of COVID-19 in Croatia from 18 th of June to 17 th of August.

Figure 2. Dates of implementation of measures in comparison with the movement of the number of sick, recovered, deceased and active cases of COVID-19 in Croatia from 18 th of June to 17 th of August.

Decisions of the Headquarters

• June 24 - Decision about changing the Decision on the manner of organizing public transport during the declared epidemic of the COVID-19 disease (mandatory face mask/medical mask in public transport)
• June 26 - Decision about controlling compliance with the Recommendation for the prevention of infection with COVID-19 in the catering industry of nightclubs (control of the implementation of recommendations in nightclubs)
• June 30 - Decision about a temporary prohibition on crossing the border of the Republic of Croatia (prohibition on crossing for third-country nationals, with the exception of those with long-term residence in the EU and other listed exceptions)
• July 10 - Decision about the necessary measures for the organization of gatherings attended by more than a hundred participants during the declared epidemic of the COVID-19 disease
• July 10 - Decision about the necessary measure of mandatory use of face masks or medical masks for the duration of the declared epidemic of the COVID-19 disease
• July 14 – Decision about changing the Decision on the necessary measure of mandatory use of face masks or medical masks for the duration of the declared epidemic of the COVID-19 disease
• July 14 - Decision about changing the Decision on the temporary prohibition on crossing the border crossings of the Republic of Croatia
• July 31 - Decision about changing the Decision on the temporary prohibition on crossing the border crossings of the Republic of Croatia
• August 13 - Decision about the necessary measure of limiting the working hours of hospitality facilities from the category bars /night clubs

CIPH recommendations

• Changing and amendment of the guidelines for the prevention and suppression of the COVID-19 disease epidemic for social service providers in the social welfare system – ver. 8/2
• Priorities for testing for SARS-CoV-2 (Consolidated revised recommendations of priorities for testing for SARS-CoV-2, handling of contacts, ending of isolation and self-isolation)
• Recommendations for the production and recording of audio-visual and music content during the epidemic of COVID-19 - ver. 2 (in Croatian and English)

Recommendations and measures on global and EU level

Europe

On 10 th of August 2020, ECDC released an updated version of the risk assessment:ECDC has additional documents and information available:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19-pandemicThe number of cases and the 7-day cumulative incidence of COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide can be found on the ECDC dashboard:
https://qap.ecdc.europa.eu/public/extensions/COVID-19/COVID-19.html

Austria

Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz: 
https://www.sozialministerium.at/Informationen-zum-Coronavirus/Neuartiges-Coronavirus-(2019-nCov).html

Netherlands

Government of the Netherlands: https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment: https://www.rivm.nl/en/novel-coronavirus-covid-19

Germany

Rober Koch Institut: https://www.rki.de/DE/Home/homepage_node.html

Slovenia

(gov.si): https://www.gov.si/en/topics/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/
National Institute for Public Health – Slovenia: https://www.nijz.si/en

United Kingdom

gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

World

WHO provides comprehensive information and documents
WHO COVID-19-Dashboard: https://covid19.who.int/
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Weekly Epidemiological Update and Weekly Operational Update and Weekly Surveillance Report:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/weekly-surveillance-report

Sources of information

https://www.hzjz.hr/
https://zdravlje.gov.hr/

Information about the global epidemiological situation

More about COVID-19 in other countries can be found and learned on the ECDC website: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-casesThe WHO Regional Office for Europe, the European Commission and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Health Policy have at their disposal the COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor (HSRM). There is information available about European countries and ways to respond to this epidemic. The focus is on health systems and public initiatives: https://www.covid19healthsystem.org/mainpage.aspx

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