March 26, 2020 - A COVID-19 positive patient passed away this afternoon in Slavonski Brod, confirmed the National Civil Protection Headquarters on Thursday night.

Index.hr reports that a 65-year-old woman from Slavonski Brod, who was in serious condition with previously diagnosed cancer, was admitted to the hospital in Slavonski Brod last night.

Although the patient was not in self-isolation and there were no symptoms suggestive of the presence of the coronavirus, the team that received and examined the patient decided to take the sample and send it for analysis to Zagreb.

The patient was then placed in a special unit of the Joint Emergency Reception Unit.

About 16 hours later, Zagreb confirmed she was coronavirus positive, and an hour later the patient passed away. As a result, the entire Joint Emergency Reception Unit was disinfected and patient admission continued, according to SB Plus.

It should be reminded that a 74-year-old Zagreb resident died at the Infectious Diseases Clinic "Dr. Fran Mihaljevic" today.

Minister Vili Beros confirmed that the 74-year-old patient from Zagreb was a cancer patient. His wife is also in serious condition.

"There are currently eight more respiratory patients, one of which is awaiting a laboratory test, the other seven are not in critical condition. The other 70 patients are stable and will hopefully not require more support in terms of intensive care. Three of them are slightly more ill," said Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic "Dr. Fran Mihaljevic", Alemka Markotic.

Yesterday it was confirmed that a caterer from Istria who passed away a week ago died of the coronavirus.

At the afternoon press conference of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, 14 new coronavirus cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 495. Twenty-two people have recovered.

In the past 24 hours, Croatia had an increase of 53 patients, which is less than yesterday when Croatia had 63, the day before yesterday, when 69 were diagnosed, Health Minister Vili Beros said at a news conference.

Most affected are in Zagreb (225), followed by Istria County (40), Krapina-Zagorje County (36), Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (35), Split-Dalmatia County (34), Osijek-Baranja County (31), Dubrovnik-Neretva County (22), and Karlovac County (18).

There are 15 cases in Šibenik-Knin County, 14 in Varaždin County, 7 in Sisak-Moslavina County, 6 in Zadar County, 3 in Zagreb County, 2 in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, 2 in Međimurje, one in Vukovar-Srijem County, and in one in Lika-Senj County.

Follow our live updates on the coronavirus in Croatia.

Why does the director of the World Health Organisation keep repeating: "test, test, test"? How are the conditions for quarantine created, how might coexistence with coronavirus look, and how can the virus be attacked?

As Igor Rudan/Vecernji list writes on the 26th of March, 2020, Croatia has become a major quarantine - temporarily. This prevents the new coronavirus from spreading too quickly. As a result, the number of serious COVID-19 cases in our country shouldn’t increase too rapidly. This will enable our healthcare system to help anyone who develops a more severe form of the illness. Our healthcare professionals will save many lives in the coming weeks. If we all adhere to the quarantine provisions, our health care system will continue to be able to help those with other illnesses in need of intensive care. By staying in our own homes, we’re all now protecting our health care system from overloading, which could otherwise occur under the pressure of too many coronavirus patients.

After all of us found ourselves in such an unusual situation, many people have been asking me questions over recent days. The most common of these are: "What will happen next?"; "How long will this last?"; "Why didn't we test a lot more and avoid quarantine, like some Asian countries did?" Many people are also wondering if we really have to threaten the economy this way in order to, as they say, "extend the lives of those among us who are already the oldest and the most unwell?"

It isn’t even clear to many why societies have created a climate that stops people's "right to die from COVID-19"? By comparison, about eight million people worldwide die directly from smoking annually. Nearly one million of those deaths are of non-smokers, who smoke their household members’ cigarette smoke. Why aren't the deaths of all these hapless "passive smokers" tracked in the same way? Furthermore, more than one million people die each year in road accidents. All drivers are exposed to it, but not everyone survives it, nor are they always guilty of it. Why is exposure to coronavirus different from driving exposure? Finally, about one million people die of AIDS a year. However, even with the total of ten million deaths per year, nobody is stopping people from smoking, driving cars, or having sex among their population. And now, because of COVID-19, we're all in our houses at once. We are also at risk from viruses and economic catastrophe, and obviously from earthquakes.

What’s going on here, then? Why are half a million people who end up dead from the flu every year completely uninteresting to the general public, but any deaths from COVID-19 are interesting to the point that country after country in the developed west sees this as economic suicide? Or, why aren’t the six million deaths of poor children worldwide interesting to the public? It seems that it would be even more reasonable to save the victims of all the aforementioned diseases than the predominantly retired, elderly and sick people around the world who are now at risk of being infected with COVID-19.

These are not simple questions at all and I'm not sure I have clear answers to them. I’m pleased, however, that the first clear plans, scientifically based ones, are finally coming out, on how to get out of this situation relatively quickly with minimal human casualties and avoiding the complete collapse of the economy.

The first step of all these plans is always to quickly and decisively close the pathways of further spread off to the virus. This avoids creating the situation of having too many infected people too quickly. The health system is then protected from complete collapse and many human lives will be saved. After that, there is a very wide range of further options. The author Tomas Pueyo recently outlined the currently most sensible coronavirus strategy and called it "The Hammer and the Dance." I expect that over the next few weeks, the governments of many developed countries will resort to some variant of this solution, because it’s reasonable. It protects people's lives and it protects the health system, but it also protects the economy. The ‘’hammer’’ is an intensive and not too long of a quarantine that reverses the flow of the epidemic and reduces the number of infected people. The ‘’dance" is then our coexistence with the virus, much like the escalation of Muhammad Ali-style strikes, where we must never again allow it to spread quickly to a large number of people.

Therefore, once this unusual situation is over, the assessment of each country's performance in dealing with the coronavirus crisis will be based on the following five questions:

1. How long and effectively did the "first line of defense" manage to prevent the free spread of coronavirus among the population? In the case of Croatia, we were practically the best in Europe.

2. When the virus broke through the "first line of defense" and began to expand exponentially throughout the population, how quickly and decisively was a strict quarantine measure activated? In the case of Croatia, the activation measures started at the right time, with the plan being not to have the number of infected people reach more than a few thousand and for the number of serious cases to reach only a few hundred. Were it not for the earthquakes and the fleeing of many from Zagreb down to the south, these figures would probably have been reached, but we’ll see in a few days just where the number of infected people will peak.

3. How closely did the population adhere to quarantine? We’re now dependent on the discipline of all of us, so that the problems that the Italians and the Spaniards now have because of their indiscipline don’t happen to us. So stay, if you can, inside your houses.

4. How fast and active was the state in mobilising its capacities and human resources, as well as creative and innovative solutions, to develop a concrete plan for quarantining and coexistence with coronavirus as quickly as possible? This is the next urgent task for Croatia. This will include the empowerment of technological capabilities and human resources for virus testing, innovative ideas on social removal measures, effective virus control measures, the use of technologies to understand human contacts and the spread of viruses, and other things.

5. How effectively, after quarantine, has the state allowed its inhabitants to move into a relatively normal life situation and preserve their economy from collapse, with permanent control over the spread of the virus? This is our fifth task, but it isn’t one that is unsolvable either.

How are we going to achieve this over the next month, and how can we continue after that? I will try to explain this with this simple story, which will explain our current situation to you, and the options at our disposal.

Let's first imagine the whole of Croatia as a group of one hundred people. Working on their computers, the group works a night shift at an office on the ground floor near Maksimir forest.

You can enter this ground floor through a rather long corridor. In Maksimir forest, as we know, there is a zoo. It is also said that a vampire wanders through the forest at night. Due to the proximity of wild animals and these rumours of a vampire, these one hundred office employees created a round ‘’net’’ made of very tough rope. They also tied one hundred bricks around the round edge of that net.

One night, a tiger escaped from the zoo. We heard about it on the radio and hoped it wouldn't come right to us, but we still pulled that net out of the closet. A moment later, the tiger walked right into our office. We threw the net at it and then each one of us firmly gripped those bricks on its edge and pressed the net down against the floor. As strong as it was, the tiger was now pressed down by the net thanks to the joint action of all of us one hundred people.

The tiger can't really do us any harm as long as each of us presses their own brick firmly against the floor. This is our current situation with coronavirus, this is quarantine.

However, all the tiger wants to do is take away just one of us and eat that person somewhere in the woods. He would leave everyone else alone and return again in a year. The oldest and most unwell people sit next to the hallway door, so the tiger would probably drag one of them away. To protect one of us, all one hundred must now hold their respective bricks pressed against the floor. It is not only tiring but it’s also boring. Nobody wants to live like that. But what else could we do? Some begin to slowly look at the old men among us, wondering if they’re really worth so much to us. Does it make sense to sacrifice the quality of life for ninety-nine of us just to save one of our old men? It is amazing that this virus has placed this type of doubt in front of us in the 21st century. Our response to the crisis will, in fact, reflect the value system of our society.

Still, everyone wondered how long we should keep this tiger pressed under the net and how to get out of this situation. Someone then remembered that vampire. If the tiger was accidentally bitten by the vampire on the way to the ground floor, then at sunrise, the tiger could simply disappear when it was illuminated by the sun. This is analogous to the disappearance of coronavirus when the warmer weather arrives. So, it seemed reasonable to endure it for at least some more time. Then one of us asked the person next to them to press down their brick with their free hand, while they try to load their rifle, with which they could simply kill the tiger. That would be an analogy for the discovery of a vaccine for this virus. Another, however, also freed himself and began to develop a fluid that would kill any appetite the tiger had. Then the tiger would leave us all alone and just walk away outside. This would be an analogy for the COVID-19 drug, which would reduce the need for respirators for the seriously ill and relieve the pressure on the health system.

Suddenly, there seemed to be as many as three options - the disappearance of the tiger at sunrise, the loading of a rifle, or the development of a fluid that would kill the tiger's appetite. The problem is, there can be no certainty that any of those measures would work. During this time, the people are less and less attached to the net. If only two or three loosen their grip in the same place, the tiger will crawl out from there, and then it would once again need to be caught in the net. However, more and more people, eager for a normal life, are beginning to wonder whether it’s better to gamble with the 99 percent chance that the tiger will not grab them than to live like this, crouching down on the floor and pressing the net against the floor with everyone else. This is especially the case for younger, faster and more adept people.

But suddenly, an engineer comes up with something else. He teams up with the miner next to him. They ask those next to them to hold down their bricks with their free hands, and they go out into the hall. The engineer instructs the miner to dig a tunnel under the corridor, which would lead back into the forest. During this time, he places ten tiles instead of the hall floor, each of them with a sensor. He installs a laser beam on the ceiling, which alternately illuminates one of these tiles. If the beam is directed at the tile sensor and the sensor doesn’t register the beam, it means that there is probably a tiger sneaking onto those tiles. Then the tiles will collapse and the tiger will fall down into the tunnel, and will have to go back into the woods and he’ll need to sneak up on us again from scratch. If the tiger ever manages to get through such a security system, we still have a rope with a bell at the end of the hall. It will alert us to the fact that he has broken through that defense and then we will catch it once again in the net. But in the meantime, we will at least be able to live more normally and continue to do our work, regardless of the fact that there is a tiger outside our building. When the system is installed and tested, we will push the tiger out together with our net, then allow it to keep falling through the floor tiles, let it fall into the tunnel again, and then return to the forest. That's how coronavirus testing works, roughly.

There is only one thing to remember in any epidemic: we need to do everything we can to find out who is infected and who isn’t, and then physically separate the infected people from the healthy ones. This should be done among the population, but especially in hospitals, where the virus poses the most danger if it can enter them. Since coronavirus has entered several of our hospitals, anyone considering the complete relocation of all COVID-19 infected people from all hospitals to reception centres, to new hospitals, which is what was done in Wuhan, has my full support. Every action of separating the infected from the rest of the population makes it impossible for the virus to spread further. The most important thing is to prevent it from spreading to uninfected hospital patients who are most at risk.

If we can be that active in finding infected people and isolating them and their contacts, we will significantly slow down the spread of the virus. This virus is currently spreading at a tremendous pace as each infected human can transmit it to two, three or even four healthy people with their next step. But if, by taking an active approach to finding infected COVID-19 spreaders who don’t yet have symptoms, and by constantly separating them and all of their contacts and putting them into self-isolation, then we manage to get to a situation in which one infected person manages to infect, on average, less than one healthy person, then we are all pretty safe. The epidemic will slowly go away on its own, and the vast majority of us will be able to live relatively normally. The minority, on the other hand, will constantly rotate in isolation.

With proactive testing, for example, by small epidemiology teams that will go to the households of everyone who reports having symptoms and test them and then isolate them and their contacts if they’re positive for the virus, we will allow the vast majority of the population to live safely with the virus. I would definitely recommend the daily testing of all staff at hospitals, dispensaries, health centres, as well as people employed in retirement homes, as there will also be an enormous amount of damage if a COVID-19 epidemic develops in those places.

In addition to actively seeking out, testing, and then isolating infected people and their contacts, there are two other elegant ways by which we can further protect ourselves. The first is to build some kind of "safety net". We could define a very representative sample of Croatia's population of about 10,000 people, and test them once a week. In this way, we would make sure that the virus isn’t "sneaking" behind our backs and escaping into exponential growth in some part of Croatia.

Namely, when we quarantine, it will be possible for mini-epidemics to break out anywhere in Croatia. They, as we’ve seen in Italy and some other European countries, can grow very quickly to very large numbers of infected people. With this "network" that we would regularly monitor, we’d know that our virus isn’t spreading anywhere in Croatia, and we’d also know how many Croats are infected. Another approach we could take is to start looking for people with antibodies, who apparently have become infected with coronavirus, even though they aren’t aware of it, and then issue them passes and include them in normal life in important roles. However, we will still have to wait for solid scientific proof that immunity against this new coronavirus is indeed permanent.

Virus testing is somewhat comparable to counter-espionage in war. We’re confronted with an enemy who is invisible, and we only become aware of the effects of its actions a week later. In the meantime, we don’t know where the virus is and what it is doing behind our backs. SARS and MERS were significantly easier to control because the infected didn’t transmit the virus before the onset of coughing and other symptoms. With coronaviruses, the infection spreads during the incubation period, while the infected don’t have any symptoms yet, which is a big problem for us. But we can at least resolve it, somewhat, with more active testing.

If we allow it to, the virus will jump from the first infected person to two or three more people, then from each of them to two or three people again, and then do so again. That way, if the first infected person is drawn at the bottom of a piece of the paper, the wider and denser ‘’canopy’’ of infected people is constantly spreading over them, step by step. Through active testing, we’re able to find those who are infected among us. So, we constantly prune that "canopy" to make that situation as rare as possible. If the canopy ceases to spread from step to step because we constantly cut branches wherever we reach, then we’re in coexistence with the virus. We slowly get vaccinated, we treat the seriously ill, and there are fewer and fewer people who don’t have immunity for the virus to be able to jump on.

This way, one can live with the virus present in the environment and thus control the epidemic. What the Director of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Tedros Adhan, tells us is that we must not constantly be on the defensive, in quarantine, and wait for people with symptoms to report for testing. That would mean we're constantly behind the virus. The enemy will then constantly surprise us and strike us from somewhere. That's why it's important to test people as much as possible, but cleverly and reasonably so, and with clear goals.

Quarantine, simply, cannot be a longer-term solution to fighting the virus in Croatia. Initial estimates suggest that about half of Croatian private sector companies cannot withstand this situation for more than a month, and another 43 percent won’t manage for more than three months, which is a terrifying fact. Their exhaustion will also see the end of the filling up of the budget through corporate income taxes, so, there will be no funding for public sector wages either. This will mean that most people now sitting in their homes will no longer be able to buy food, and soon there will be no food to buy, either.

In addition to testing, there are a number of innovative approaches that we may need to resort to in order to be as safe as possible from the virus and escape the Italian scenario of exponential growth. For example, we might initially switch to a work week where people living in house numbers ending in 1 or 2 work on Mondays, those with 3 or 4 on Tuesdays, those with 5 or 6 on Wednesdays, those with 7 or 8 on Thursdays, and those with 9 or 10 on Fridays. This would turn the Croatian population into a so-called "metapopulation", that is, they’d be divided into five smaller non-contact populations. This is similar to a ship or submarine that is internally divided into bulkheads, so they can protect it from sinking if the hull breaks somewhere. That way, we would protect ourselves if the virus somehow triggered an epidemic within one of these populations, it couldn’t then spread to the other four fifths. Perhaps a two-day Monday-Friday work week for everyone would work in an even better way, as it wouldn’t allow the virus to spread day by day, and would still allow us to return to having nine working days a month, with additional work from home where possible. Perhaps even a "one week work, three week quarantine" option would be effective and safe.

The combination of all of these measures: (i) the continuous, active detection of infected persons and their separation; (ii) a "safety net" of 10,000 people for continuous nationwide testing; (iii) splitting the whole of the population into fifths, or working twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays; (iv) various measures to avoid social contact, such as banning large public gatherings, recommendations on wearing masks and gloves, and restrictions on travel and quarantine for arrivals from abroad; and (v) various innovative technological solutions, such as applications that inform all residents of the status of infection of people they have in their contact list, all of which seem feasible. This would probably protect us enough from the virus and allow the vast majority of people to continue, more or less, with normal life as much as possible. Because we need to get out of this quarantine situation as soon as possible and we need to make plans now.

Perhaps this unusual situation will be a historical reminder to both countries and individuals of the importance of self-sustainability and independence from others. It may be that many people in the world left without work because of the economic aspect of this crisis are encouraged to consider moving to cottages or to villages. Now that wireless internet can be accessed everywhere, it doesn't matter where the person on Earth actually lives. But if he has his own garden and his own well, at least he won’t get into the kind of awkward situation that many are now finding themselves in recent times. Perhaps one of the consequences of this crisis will be some new idea of ​​organising the lives of individuals and countries, based on self-sustainability. This would also make Croatia, in general, a more robust country in the face of a number of possible new challenges of the 21st century.

Coronavirus will cause losses for humanity in 2020 on the one hand, but it will reduce those same losses on the other. For example, it will reduce the number of traffic accidents, the number of victims of violence, and deaths from polluted air. In addition, until yesterday, spears were breaking around every percent reduction in fossil fuel use, and now all of a sudden this reduction is forced and massive. In a rather improbable way, this pandemic at least helps combat humanity's climate change problem. In Zagreb, however, self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic saved perhaps tens of lives of people who would have perished during the earthquake. If I paid for a ticket to watch a movie with such a scenario, i.e. an earthquake that affects people who are quarantined by a pandemic, so they can no longer be outside or inside, I would feel cheated. But, as the Chinese proverb goes, "There are countless things that cannot be imagined, but there are none that can’t happen.’’

This text was written by Igor Rudan and translated by Lauren Simmonds

For rolling information and updates in English on coronavirus in Croatia, as well as more articles by Igor Rudan - follow our dedicated section.

March 26, 2020 - While the world watches the rise in number of COVID-19 cases, there is another number which is growing even quicker - unemployment statistics. 

We are all in this together it seems. As a record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefit this week, one wonders what is coming next and just how bad this is going to get. 

But while several countries have announced huge aid packages in order to support business, in one small country on the Adriatic, things are a little different.

Croatia is dealing with the coronavirus like every other country, and its response after a slow start has been commendable. At time of writing, there are 495 cases, with the second death reported earlier today. On top of this threat, a series of earthquakes just north of the capital Zagreb brought additional chaos. 

And then there are the economic realities, and the Croatian government's response which so enraged the private sector which feeds Croatia's bloated and inefficient public sector that a Facebook group, Glas Poduzetnika (Voice of Entrepreneurs) quickly got thousands of fans, frustrated business people from the private sector. 

Aco Momcilovic, former HR of Rimac Automobili and now CEO of Future HR, wrote a piece on behalf on the Glas Poduzetnika group for TCN called In Media Res: The Voice of the Entrepreneur, in which he outlined the precarious state of many of Croatia's private enterprise. A survey of the group showed that 59% of businesses had cash reserves of 5,000 kuna or less (650 euro), and another 24% no more than 20,000 kuna (2,600 euro). 

And 93% of companies said they could not last more than 3 months on existing reserves with this crisis, 50% no more than a month. 

The response from the government prompted the group to write to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, demanding the dismissal of Minister of Economy, Darko Horvat, and the immediate establishment of a Crisis Committee for the Economy. You can read their press release here - Croatia Faces 300,000 Layoffs in 3 Months: Voice of Entrepreneurs.

(5 Key Demands from Voice of Entrepreneurs)

My understanding is that members of the private sector met with Minister Horvat today, and there will be more information on that meeting tomorrow. 

But the job losses have already started. And there is no better way of keeping the issue in the public eye than having a daily update on the job losses. Leading Croatian portal Index.hr has done just that, today adding an unemployment statistics counter (Nezaposleni) to the coronavirus numbers on its homepage. 

The economic fallout of this crisis is of equal concern to people here as the health threat, even more so according to one question in the first-ever TCN survey (you can see results to the other questions here). 

As the authorities work tirelessly to flatten the COVID-19 curve, time will tell whether or not they will do the same for the unemployment statistics curve, but now both can be monitored side by side. 

To follow the latest from the coronavirus crisis, check out the TCN dedicated section. 

ZAGREB, March 26, 2020 - The president of the Croatian Employers Association (HUP), Gordana Deranja, told Hina on Thursday that no one was to blame for the COVID-19 epidemic but that she was afraid that the private sector would again suffer the most.

"The situation is not pretty, we are plagued by uncertainty, the economy is in a difficult state and we do not have a clear vision of what will happen next. It is clear that neither the government nor any of us are to blame for the epidemic, but I am afraid that the private sector will once again pay the biggest price," Deranja said.

She added that in the economy everyone "is asking for write-offs, and not for deferral", since the situation was a catastrophe.

"HUP leadership regularly communicates with the government and ministries, it is in contact with its members, we have suggested a series of measures, and it is normal that the government does what it thinks should be done. Of course, we are not satisfied with the latest package of economic measures to help workers, entrepreneurs and the economy because we are asking for write-offs, not deferral," HUP president said.

She praised the national civil protection service and the healthcare system, as well as everyone taking care of the citizens' health and standing "on the front line of defence".

"None of us know if the crisis will last for a month or two or even longer. We do not know what tomorrow holds, but we do know that there are already many of those who cannot work, which means we do not have an income. If we do not have an income, we cannot pay people since we do not have a budget like the public sector, which we have been filling for years," Gordana Deranja said.

She said that this time the private sector stood together and would not let itself be completely destroyed.

"The economy is suffering all over Croatia. It is impossible to deliver materials, many demand advance payment, and orders have come to a halt. It is a disaster, it is nobody's fault, the whole world is in this together, but then we have to show solidarity, stay at home and respect the decisions. But then there we should also be eligible for write-offs and for exemption from tax and duty payments. Imagine, the Ministry of Tourism has generously relieved us of paying tourist board membership fees. Come on, what tourism are we talking about, this is ridiculous," Deranja said.

More coronavirus can be found in the Lifestyle section.

Croatian Post is stepping up in the face of the current pandemic by donating something that is the object of desire for many to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital in Zagreb.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of March, 2020, in the midst of the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak and the emergency situation in which we all find ourselves, Croatian Post (Hrvatska Pošta) is donating a 200,000 kuna respirator to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital. The respirator also comes with all the accessories needed for proper clinical use.

Aware of its important role in the community, especially during emergencies, in addition to donating to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital, Croatian Post has made its facilities available to the Croatian Red Cross and the Croatian Caritas.

Corporate social responsibility, which includes donations and support to local communities, is the framework of the wider Post2022 development strategy.

In accordance with the instructions of the competent authorities and the Civil Protection Headquarters, Croatian Post has readily adjusted its operations and took all of the necessary measures to reduce the possibility of spreading the ongoing coronavirus epidemic and to ensure as much fluid business continuity as possible.

''We're supply our employees with protective and disinfectants,'' the company stated.

The method of delivery of postage has been changed and postmen must avoid any direct contact with customers. All post offices also have spacing rules for users to abide by. Additionally, post office hours were shortened in accordance with the recommendations recently issued by the National Civil Protection Headquarters, who may need to bring in even more stringent measures if the current ones continue being improperly adhered to.

Make sure to follow our dedicated section for rolling information and updates in English on coronavirus in Croatia.

ZAGREB, March 26 2020 - Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak on Thursday underscored that the regularity of the school year would not be brought into question adding that several scenarios were being prepared for graduation examinations and that the ministry would issue relevant instructions early April.

The plan we prepared for online lessons is being implemented successfully however there are certain issues that need to be advanced, she said.

Several scenarios have been worked out for secondary school state graduation examinations; however, this epidemiological situation is totally unfamiliar and no one knows how long it will continue. "Depending on its duration, we will activate some of those scenarios and we will inform everyone of that on time," she noted.

Early April the ministry will release instructions for assessment and evaluation so that online assessment and evaluation is the same at the national level.

It is not necessary to give marks for the first two weeks of remote learning, she said but it is essential to embark on support and adaptation.

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

March 26, 2020 - The second coronavirus death confirmed in Croatia.

Index reports:

At the Infectious Disease Clinic Fran Mihaljević, a 74-year-old Zagreb resident who has been on a respirator for the last few days due to the coronavirus has passed away.

Hospital director Alemka Markotic said at the National Civil Protection Headquarters press conference that one of the respiratory patients was in critical condition.

His wife is also in serious condition.

The 74-year-old is the second victim of coronavirus in Croatia. Yesterday it was confirmed that a caterer from Istria died of the coronavirus.

At a press conference of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, 39 newly diagnosed coronaviruses were confirmed this morning. In Croatia, a total of 481 people have been confirmed so far, and 22 have recovered. The first two cases in the police were recorded.

A total of 3958 samples were tested and 566 were tested yesterday. There are 13 people on respirators - 7 in Zagreb, 3 in Osijek, 1 in Rijeka, 1 in Split and 1 in Dubrovnik.

Epidemiologists have said that we are in an upward trajectory and that this number will grow. 

Two towns were placed in quarantine in Croatia yesterday. They are Murter and Betina, and the police even put spikes on the roads to drill tires so no one would leave.

Morning data from Croatian counties:

County of Istria - 3 new. Total: 41 cases
Osijek-Baranja - Total: 32 cases
Split-Dalmatia - 5 new. Total: 36 cases
Zadar: Total: 9 cases
Varaždin: 3 new. Total: 17 cases
Dubrovnik: 2 new. Total: 26 cases

More soon...

Follow our live updates on the coronavirus crisis in Croatia.

March 26, 2020 - So how do the new measures and travel restrictions in Croatia look at a local level. A snapshot from Varazdin resident Paul Fischer or Rural Property Croatia. 

All they need to do now is to cut the phone and the Internet and the television, and we would have no idea what is going on. 

The new travel restrictions in Croatia have come into force, in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus,and it is clear that the authorities are taking this VERY seriously indeed. 

The first inkling I had locally was last night here in Jelsa on Hvar. I have been here for about two weeks in self-isolation with my family, and I am yet to meet anybody from the island. I am chained to the laptop from 5 am until midnight, apart from meal breaks and one precious hour when I go for a walk alone by the sea or along the riva - there is absolutely nobody else about. 

It is a walk I can take no longer. Two police cars were patrolling the town of Jelsa last night, and I was informed that the outside world is now only for food shopping, pharmacy visits and other essentials. 

While inconvenient, I fully support these measures and I am very impressed at how seriously the Croatian authorities are taking this, after a slow start. It is a policy which will save lives. 

But how is it elsewhere in the country? Now that we are not permitted to travel, it is hard to tell, but the Internet is a wonderful thing. My good friend Paul Fischer, a longterm resident of Varazdin, posted this on Facebook this morning, which gives a very nice snapshot of how things look on the neighbourhood level - at least where he is. 

Do you have an interesting story with photos of the new measures where you are in Croatia? Send through to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject New Measures. 

And now, her is Paul Fischer on life in his hood.

Just to compare with how things are being done where you are.....

In Varaždin, new neighbourhood borders have been established where each has at least one groceries shop and chemist within it. Roadblocks have been established to prevent us from moving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood without reason. To get the necessary permission, you need to convince the local civil defence people of your reason/s and they will give you a code number. You must present your photo ID at any roadblock and quote your permission number, they will check that you look like you are doing what your permission allows and, if so, let you through. The pic is of the checkpoint near me.

Only one person may enter a shop (or be in a vehicle) and you must have gloves and mask before they let you in and spray you with ... whatever. Everyone else must wait outside until their turn comes.

I don't know what the Croatian is for "no messin'".... but that would sum it up nicely. Public disobedience is not strong here so people are playing the game properly. Time will tell if it will prove effective.

For the latest news about coronavirus in Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section. 

March 26, 2020 - Murter and Betina are under quarantine as of yesterday.

Sibenik.in reports that the measure was passed because 8 of the 15 coronavirus cases in the area were recorded there. Mayor of Murter-Kornati Municipality Toni Turcinov described what life is like there today. 

“We have made several decisions to declare war against the coronavirus. The locals will be able to go out on the street, briefly, once a week, maybe twice, we are still deciding. Three shops are working, but since there are a lot of people who do not live there, they will also organize shifts. If necessary, we will release trucks with goods, and we have also raised three civil protection teams, one of which is tasked with taking medicines and other supplies in Lovisce, where there is a police blockade, as needed,” Turcinov said.

What the people of Murter were most concerned about yesterday is gasoline, because the gas station will no longer work.

What Turcinov is most looking forward to is the triage ambulance he has been seeking from the state for several days.

“The ambulance arrived and we located it near the church and kindergarten on a large plateau. They just plugged it in. We also have a team that looks after the elderly. We finally have everything we need and I have to commend all the locals for strictly adhering to the rules. The people of Murter have always been great fighters when needed, and so we will the fight against the coronavirus,” said the Murter Chief, noting that he is available by phone 24 hours a day.

In the neighboring Betina, which belongs to the Municipality of Tisno, all the shops are open, and the communal security officer Silivo Tomas is in charge of all the elderly and those who need any help.

As Chief Ivan Klarin said, there is no restriction on leaving homes in Betina, although the recommendation is to stay inside and only to go outside if urgent.

"We have put in place all measures that apply in the event of a quarantine," Klarin says.

Out of a total of 15 coronavirus cases in the area, eight are from the island of Murter, where 67 people are currently in self-isolation.

Follow our live updates on the coronavirus crisis.

The coronavirus crisis is gripping public health as much as it is the global economy. With threats of mass lay-offs possible in Croatia alone over the next three months, it's difficult to see what road this unprecedented situation with the COVID-19 outbreak could go down.

One good thing that has come out of all of this, is that the good hearts of many have come to the surface. Many Croatian companies have done their bit to donate to those in need, even in times of financial worry and a standstill for a lot of businesses, primarily those operating within the Croatian tourism industry, the country's strongest economic branch.

Infobip, a wildly successful Croatian IT company, has also made generous donations. With Dukat, a company operating within the food sector, making sure Zagreb's more vulnerable citizens, shaken from the recent earthquakes as well as the pandemic, are taken care of.

These aren't the only companies stepping up in this time of great need, and as Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of March, 2020, the company Prvo plinarsko društvo (First Gas Company, or PPD), which operates within the Energia naturalis group (ENNA), recently generously donated seven respirators to KBC Zagreb to help them cope with weaker patients needing them during the coronavirus pandemic.

''The intention of the Energia naturalis group is to try to buy and donate a total of fifty respirators to Croatian hospitals, and the management of the group has directed its strength and abilities towards finding and purchasing them. The respirators purchased should be delivered to KBC Zagreb by the end of the week,'' a statement from the company read.

In addition to the measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus and protect its own employees, the ENNA group is actively fighting the "corona crisis" here in Croatia.

''It certainly isn't easy to get hold of a respirator at the moment, but we are convinced it is possible. We're also sure that many individuals and companies are doing the best they can to help in the situation we all find ourselves in, and in this way, with our knowledge and capabilities, we're joining their efforts,'' the company stated.

Make sure to follow our dedicated section for rolling information and updates on coronavirus in Croatia.