Isn't it funny how all of a sudden, owing to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, everything can can be done over the phone or digitally in Croatia? It's ironic that now we can't take entire days off work to stand around taking numbers and lining up with hands full of (usually pointless) documents, the internet and a few new phone lines are here to save us.

The dream of a Digital Croatia appears to have been somewhat sped up by the appearance of coronavirus, and even the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) has set up an information phone line for insured people to contact should they need to.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of April, 2020, residents with health insurance provided by HZZO can call this new temporary number every working day from 08:00 to 16:00 and ask questions regarding their entitlement to compulsory or supplementary health insurance, and the right to maternity and parental benefits.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, HZZO has introduced a temporary information telephone to enable its policyholders to be provided with prompt, simple and high-quality information in these exceptional circumstances. Which does beg the question of why it wasn't just done before, given the fact that we are in the 21st century.

Cricitism aside, the temporary telephone line is: 033 62 88 88 and costs the normal price of a local call, HZZO claims.

In addition to the various e-mail addresses that can be found on HZZO's official website, this number is now available to residents so that they can get information as soon as possible without having to go to HZZO's offices in person, as was otherwise the norm.

In this way, HZZO is properly adhering to the guidelines and is protecting both its employees and users from the possibility of contracting coronavirus.

Follow our dedicated section for all you need to know about coronavirus in Croatia.

April 7, 2020 - Continuing his stimulating series look at travel in the post-corona era, Zoran Pejovic of Paradox Hospitality turns his attention to the subjects of health and safety.  

The world is slowly waking up to the fact that things are not going back to pre-corona times. As days and weeks go by, I keep getting fewer funny memes in my inbox and WhatsApp messages, and more serious articles pointing to the downfall of the travel industry and the difficulties it will face once it all resumes. The question I get asked more and more is how travel will look like after this is over? I have already given some predictions about the post corona travel. This article will dig a bit deeper into the emotional aspects that go into travel decision-making, and how those will evolve in the post-corona travel era.

What can we learn, for example, from the toilet paper craze that dominated the early days of the coronavirus pandemic? We can learn that there is such a thing called zero-risk bias. Zero-risk bias is an interesting defence mechanism that evolution has gifted us, and it really means sorting out some small, tangential, less important problems rather than those large, often unsolvable problems on the individual level, so that we regain some sense of control. Zero-risk bias comes fully into the play when we are faced with the larger questions on health and safety. Hence buying toilet paper in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemics. Why is this important?

When it comes to travel decision making, we are motivated by, broadly speaking, two sets of emotions, promotion emotions and prevention emotions. Promotion emotions of self-elation, recognition, excitement, delight and satisfaction, especially satisfaction derived through the acquisition of new knowledge and new experiences, have dominated the travel world over the past decade or so. This especially applies to the “upper middle” and “entry luxury” segments of the market. The idea of personal betterment through travel, especially via experiential travel and the rise of the affluent traveller in contrast to the mass tourist has been studied, discussed and fully acknowledged, even hyped as health beneficial. Recent psychological research conducted by prestigious Cornell University has shown that such behaviour, the one hallmarked by experiential rather than material purchases, does indeed make one a better person. Better is here meant in terms of sense of gratitude and generosity which in turns propels one’s social behaviour, which ultimately leads to better general health.

In this time of rapidly evolving contexts, we need to examine some of the trends that made sense then and ask if they will still make sense afterwards. The longer this crisis takes, the more likely it is that prevention emotions will take over as the driving factors in the travel decision making. Prevention measures that deal with risk reductions, absence of problems and absence of discomfort, can in turn again lead to satisfaction, confidence and a sense of security.

I will look a bit more here into the segment of health and safety, on a more practical and applicable level. When we extrapolate from the current situation and apply it to the hotel industry, we can safely assume that hand sanitizers for example will become more permanently placed in all hotel public areas, entrance to the hotels, to the bars and restaurants and next to the elevators. Also, we will probably see alcohol-based hand sanitizers as part of the standard set-up in public restrooms, next to the soap dispensers, and the restrooms will have to be equipped with no-touch garbage containers as well. Also, the regulation of fresh air share in the hotel public areas will need to be controlled more rigorously by air quality sensors. It might become a standard that hotels need to be able to provide 100% fresh air supply every hour or so in the public areas, especially conference halls and meeting rooms. In terms of operations, all staff will have to complete additional hygiene training courses, and housekeeping will have a special schedule for cleaning high-frequency areas such as elevator buttons, door handles and restrooms. All of these activities might lead to a heightened sense of safety that post-corona era travellers might look for.

What does the toilet paper craze have to do with this? Well, extrapolating from the current situation is fine and will probably lead to some good decision-making on behalf of the hotel operators, but I expect the real changes to come from somewhere else. So, for example, those with a desire to travel, being unable to prevent all the challenges regarding the anxiety of the post-corona travel might subconsciously use the zero-risk bias and eliminate some other risk, way smaller and unrelated. One of those might be handling of cash, for example. Cash can be a transmitter of the virus. However, more importantly, cash often presents a risk for those who are carrying it with them. Cash is easier to lose, there are issues with currency exchange and overall people feel more comfortable, in this day and age, handling payments via credit cards and more so mobile payment options. So, cash, which was already dying out, might be given a final blow by the coronavirus pandemic. In this case, eliminating cash as one of the small, unrelated risks might play the role of the stockpiling of the toilet paper.

Other measures that will play a role in travel decision making motivated by prevention emotions concern ease of access, ease of use and privacy, but I am more interested in finding another “toilet paper” risk elimination.

You can read more on this subject of post-coronavirus travel from Zoran here:

Travel Industry: Keep Communicating and Visibility

Build Scenarios! Be Present! Take Time to Think!

Post-Coronavirus Travel and Tourism: Some Predictions

Croatian Tourism 2020 and Coronavirus: Let’s Postpone the Season

Post-Corona Tourism Planning: Hope is Not a Good Business Strategy

You can connect with Zoran Pejovic via LinkedIn.

April 7, 2020 - With as many Croatians living abroad as in the Homeland, what are the diaspora experiences of self-isolation? In the fifth of a new series, Corona Voices in the Croatian Diaspora, here is Alida Paljevic in Florida and originally from Jelsa on Hvar. 

Last week TCN started a feature series called Foreigner Self-Isolation In Croatia: Do You Feel Safer? I can honestly say we have never had such a response or so many incredible contributions. The countries of origin of these expats in Croatia literally from all over the world. So far we have had submissions from expats from Romania, USA, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Singapore, Holland, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Latvia, China, Honduras, Hungary, Moldova, New Zealand, Japan and Germany. You can see all their stories here. 

Given the success of the series (still going strong) and large interest, it made sense to expand it to look at this from another angle - how Croatians abroad are coping where they are. If you would like to contribute your story to Corona Voices in the Croatian Diaspora, please find the submission guidelines below. And now, the view from Florida through the eyes of Alida Paljevic, who went to school with my wife in Jelsa all those years ago. 

My name is Alida Paljevic, and my family of 3 lives in Florida, in a town called Dania Beach right between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Originally, I am from the most beautiful island in Europe, the island of Hvar, but for 20 years I lived in Zagreb, before moving to the US 4 years ago for an amazing job offer.

I work in the travel industry that has been hit very hard by this Coronavirus crisis, it was the first to take the hit and it will be the last to recover. But it will recover! And Americans will travel to Croatia and Europe again.

If we put aside the current situation, my career in the travel industry was really fulfilling and exciting. I truly love what I do and I can’t wait for this all to pass so that I can continue to send travelers from North America to Croatia and Europe.

Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.

We are OK, we are a bit bored to be at home all the time, and we have been at home for the past 4 weeks with the exception of a few trips to the store for food. Lately, we stopped even going out for food and we are using grocery delivery services instead. I work from home, my son is going to school online and doing some work through 2 school apps, one for math and one for English. It is stressful a bit… My husband works as a private fitness trainer and of course his gym is closed too now. Luckily, we live in a townhouse that has a bit of a backyard with a nice view and access to a pond, so the scenery is nice, and we have the opportunity to spend time outside. We also go for walks around the neighborhood sometimes. I must say it’s not that bad for us.

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?

I was hoping for the best, and honestly didn’t see it coming, at least not escalating this much worldwide… But Florida is a very desirable tourist destination that attracts tourists from all over the world, and also home to many retirees, so it has a large number of elderly people, so at a certain point, I started to expect that it could get serious… Also, Fort Lauderdale is a major cruise point and besides that many New Yorkers have their holiday houses and condos here, and many of them came down when things started to get serious in New York. (not blaming them though! I would do the same).

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue in Florida in particular?

When the numbers started to go up fast, multiplying on a daily basis, I would say about a month ago, somewhere in the first week of March we started to hunker down, get more groceries at once, and schools closed on March 15^th.

Give us a timeline on when and how life changed.

The first days of February I was in Zagreb, for business. At that time the virus was still mainly in China, there were a couple of cases in Germany and Italy if I recall correctly. Croatia was still Corona-free, and so was Florida. I came back and a few weeks after everything started to escalate first in Europe, and while Croatia already had a couple of reported cases, Florida was still with not a single reported case. But when it started, the numbers went up really fast, and in the past 3 weeks, Since March 16, there are almost 13000 confirmed cases in Florida.

Tell us about your day. Do you/can you leave your apartment?

We are on a ‘mandatory stay at home’ in the whole state of Florida. But we are allowed to go out for essential needs. We are allowed to go for walks, just us as a family.

The days actually go by pretty quickly, I work, my son does his school classes, we cook lunch, cook dinner, take a walk, play games, watch tv… And, of course, we spend time talking on the phone to our family in Croatia and our friends both here and Croatia.

How are the authorities doing at handling the situation?

I thought they waited too long to close everything… Spring break was happening, with all the students on the beaches… I must say I would personally prefer it if their reaction was a bit more aggressive in the beginning.

You obviously keep an eye on your homeland. What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis?

Reading various articles almost every day, and talking to folks in Croatia, I would say they did a pretty good job.

Compare and contrast the responses of Croatia and USA. Who is doing what better?

It is really hard to compare, I think, the US is a much larger country and I think it would be probably impossible for all the States in the US to be unified in a way a small country like Croatia can… I think in terms of possibilities, both countries are trying to do the best they can.

What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?

Honestly, I don’t watch the news much… I get affected by it in a bad way, so no, no news for me! I read about the situation in both countries and also globally, but I try to keep myself informed, let’s say just enough. I follow “the numbers”, and of course read the guidelines that affect us here in Florida through a few websites, and that’s about it. I find the info I need online, but skip the news on TV.

What's the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation?

I would say we have everything we need, if I could make something appear in our house, it would be some of our family members and some friends, so that we could hang out and spend time together during this self-isolating times… That is what we miss! We have some Croatian families that live close to us and became our friends. Before this whole crisis, we would get together on the weekends, to have barbeques, and we talk, laugh, sing, dance, we have a lot of fun together and relax. I think this is a sort of ‘therapy’ for us Croatians living abroad. We are very social and like to hand out with our friends, so I am pretty sure we’ll have a barbeque the day after this whole thing is over! 

One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.

I have been working from home for the past year and a half, so I would say the change is not huge for me personally. But the challenge of working from home is real, to be able to put boundaries in place, between your personal and work life, to me that one is tough… I tend to prefer my laptop over laundry and dishes (LOL)

What I learned about myself in this crisis is that I have the ability and freedom to decide if I am focusing on the bad stuff or on the good stuff. I choose to focus on the good stuff. All my family members and friends are thankfully safe and healthy. And regarding my job, just focusing on the “day after”, preparing programs and itineraries for 2021. My work keeps me sane. It gives me hope that everything will go back to normal, and the strength to stay positive and think positive through these tough times!

About others, well, I knew this from before, but everyone has their own “coping system” and we should all respect each other. I always try to spread good vibes, but I learned not everyone wants to hear them! Even though I feel the majority of people I contact with, and besides Croatia, I have friends in Italy and Spain, as well as some associates in New York, all facing really hard times. All of them are hopeful and positive. Also, I have a group on Facebook that gathers around 700 Croatian women that live abroad, the group is called “Hrvatice u Inozemstvu”. There I talk to Croatian women really all over the world, we have members in Turkey, Island, Panama, Australia, Spain, Italy, the US, Canada… I can’t even remember all the countries are represented in this group, and more or less all countries are going through similar things. We support each other, share some important info, positive thoughts and inspiration. I feel my fellow Croatians abroad are staying at home, staying safe and most importantly, staying positive.

If you could be self-isolating in Croatia, where would it be, and why?

Definitely Hvar! My parents are there, we have a big house in Vrbanj, my dad has a boat, we have vineyards… It is Sparoge (wild asparagus) season… What an idyllic way to self-isolate!

Thanks, Alida. Stay safe and see you on the other side. You can see all the stories in both this diaspora series, and the one on expats in Croatia on this link. 

TCN is starting a new feature series on Croatian diaspora experiences of sitting out COVID-19 abroad and comparing your experiences to the situation in Croatia. If you would like to contribute, the questions are below. Please also include a para about yourself and where you are from, and a link to your website if you would like. Please also send 3-4 photos minimum to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Corona Diaspora

If you would be interested to record a video version for our partners www.rplus.video please let us know in the email. Thanks and stay safe. 

Self-Isolation Voices from the Diaspora 

Firstly, how are you? Are you alone/with someone? Tell us a little about your situation and sanity levels.

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue?

When did you realise that corona was going to be a big issue in New York in particular?

Give us a timeline on when and how life changed.

Tell us about your day. Do you/can you leave your apartment?

How are the authorities doing at handling the situation?

You obviously keep an eye on your homeland. What is your impression of the way Croatia is dealing with the crisis?

Compare and contrast the responses of Croatia and USA. Who is doing what better?

What about official communications from the authorities, compared to your home country?

What's the one thing you wish you had taken with you into self-isolation?

One thing you have learned about yourself, and one thing you have learned about others during this crisis.

If you could be self-isolating in Croatia, where would it be, and why?

TCN has recently become a partner in Robert Tomic Zuber's new R+ video channel, initially telling stories about corona experiences. You can see the first TCN contribution from this morning, my video from Jelsa talking about the realities of running a news portal in the corona era below. If you would like to also submit a video interview, please find Robert's guidelines below 

VIDEO RECORDING GUIDE

The video footage should be recorded so that the cell phone is turned horizontally (landscape mode).

There are several rules for television and video news:- length is not a virtue- a picture speaks more than a thousand words

In short, this would mean that your story should not last more than 90 seconds and that everything you say in the report should be shown by video (for example, if you talk about empty streets, we should see those empty streets, etc.).

How to do it with your cell phone? First, use a selfie camera to record yourself telling your story for about a minute and a half. Ideally, it would be taken in the exterior, except in situations where you are reporting on things in the interior (quarantine, hospital, self-isolation, etc.). Also, when shooting, move freely, make sure everything is not static.

After you have recorded your report, you should capture footage that will tell your story with a picture, such as an earlier example with empty streets.

One of the basic rules of TV journalism is that the story is told in the same way as a journalist with his text. Therefore, we ask you for additional effort. Because we work in a very specific situation, sometimes you may not be able to capture footage for each sentence of the report. In this case, record the details on the streets: people walking, the main features of the city where you live, inscriptions on the windows related to the virus, etc.

The same rules apply if you are shooting a story from your apartment, self-isolation, quarantine. We also need you to capture footage that describes your story.

When shooting frames to cover your reports, it is important that you change the angle of the shot (in other words, shoot that empty street from several angles). Also, when shooting a detail, count at least five seconds before removing the camera to another detail.

The material should be about 5 minutes long (90 seconds of your report + frames to cover your story).

After recording everything, send us to Zagreb, preferably via WeTransfer to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ZAGREB, April 7, 2020 - Parliament on Tuesday sent a bill o amendments to the law on electronic communication to a second reading, which would legalise broader surveillance of citizens' mobile phones as a measure in the fight against coronavirus.

Initially the bill was to go on fast track, however following a lot of criticism from opposition parties that it would lead to a violation of human rights and that the amendments were too general, the bill was put to regular parliamentary procedure.

The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) caucus proposed that the bill be sent to second reading in order to achieve the greatest concurrence possible on the bill which is aimed at preventing the epidemic from spreading and at protecting citizens and their health. The proposal was adopted by lawmakers with 89 votes in favour and 41 against.

HDZ whip Branko Bačić told reporters that the party had proposed a second reading because certain doubts regarding the bill emerged during the debate in parliament.

He added that all of the opposition's amendments and suggestions would be forwarded to the Government to give its opinion. "I do not know when and if the Government will forward the bill, but all possible activities that the law regulates will be taken into account. We will see whether it will refer only to citizens in self-isolation and to what extent when the bill is sent to second reading," Bačić said.

MP Peđa Grbin of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that the best thing would be for the bill to never make it to second reading considering its contents and the proposed measures' ineffectiveness. "It is unnecessary and bad and it would be good for the government to withdraw it," said Grbin.

SDP's amendments call for the bill to clearly define the circle of people who can be monitored, that the person be informed that they are under surveillance, that it defines the precise duration of surveillance and how data will be treated after the epidemic. SDP also called for supervision of the implementation of the surveillance measures.

More news coronavirus can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, April 7, 2020 - The SSSH trade union on Tuesday proposed that the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) immediately make public a list of employers who have been granted subsidies under the government aid scheme as a measure to help them to overcome the corona crisis.

The SSSH also calls for the publication of updated figures about those out of work on a daily basis.

Without the publication of employers, the general public will not be able to have insight into how the state subsidies are used, the SSSH said in a press release in which it criticised the government for failing to provide for control of how that public money is used.

The union federation expects the HZZ to inform the public about the jobless and unemployment trends on a daily basis.

Our requests are in line with "the general interests of the society" as well as the obligation of every law-governed and responsible state, said the SSSH.

On Monday, the HZZ Steering Board defined precise criteria for eligibility for state aid designed to prop up businesses.

The Steering Board thus stated that employers who laid off workers in March due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic would be entitled to apply for subsidies, provided that they reemployed those workers.

This past Sunday, the SSSH called on the authorities to insist that those workers should be employed on permanent contracts so as to prevent manipulation of the measures.

More news about coronavirus can be found in the Lifestyle section.

April 7, 2020 - Online schooling in Croatia is the new corona reality, but what is it like? The first of two videos interviews though the eyes of two schoolchildren, TCN Junior and TCN Most Junior.

"Dad, you are working really, really hard. How can we help?"

The corona era might be a global disaster on so many fronts, but it does have its small clouds with silver linings. 

One of them - for me at least - has been how the crisis has brought the core family unit of four of us much closer together. 

My wife Miranda and two daughters, Hannah (13) and Taliah (11), make most of the important decisions in the family, as we explored recently in the division of the 20 rolls of toilet paper that the family went into self-isolation with. Read more on how many rolls the only boy in the family comes out with in Toilet Paper, Toilet Paper, My Kingdom for Some Toilet Paper.

When school closed down for a fortnight recently, we had a big decision to make. Did we stay in our house in a village in Varazdin, or head back to Jelsa on Hvar, where our previous home turned holiday home, turned cancelled bookings was a much better option. Dalmatian sun, the terrace, the Adriatic. 

Of course, if we were to go to the island, we would have to employ strict self-isolation. The reality was that this was going to take longer than 2 weeks for sure, perhaps two months, perhaps longer. To be cooped up in the house in the village near Varazdin, or to at least be able to enjoy the sun, the terrace and the view of the Adriatic. 

We held a family summit, and we all agreed - let's go to Hvar. 

And from that moment, family unity has been magnificent, and I am so proud of all three of them. Mum managed somehow to pack everything up and squeeze it into the car, not knowing how long we would be gone. We have everything we need. We drove to Drvenik to try and make the ferry to Sucuraj, and with Taliah's GPS updates, we made it with 7 minutes to spare. 

And since then, I have not met anyone outside the family, chained to my laptop on the couch for 16 hours a day on average, with 30 priceless minutes by the sea to rescue my sanity. 

The girls have been magnificent, and it can't be easy for them, especially now that online schooling in Croatia is the new norm - a totally new concept. 

"You know, you could help. How about writing a blog about online schooling in Croatia, from the pupil's point of view?"

"Hmmm, cool idea - leave it with us."

I heard a lot of giggling and stop, start interview questions in the next room as I reported on the latest corona deaths in Croatia in real time. 

And then, two audio interviews in my WhatsApp inbox - Hannah interviewed by Taliah, and Taliah interviewed by Hannah. 

Not to be left out, Mum got the camera out and started to film some footage to turn the interviews into a video report worthy of inclusion on the new Rplus platform - the editing is all her own. A little translation help from star TCN intern Janja Sestak for the subtitles and all was ready. 

All it needed now was Daddy Bradders to add the words to deliver the first truly Team Bradders production. 

So how is online schooling in Croatia? Today, Taliah interviews Hannah, and tomorrow Hannah will interview Taliah. 

Bravo girls, I am beyond proud. 

For the latest on the coronavirus crisis in Croatia, check out the dedicated TCN section. 

April 7, 2020 - The Executive Board of the Croatian Football Federation has adopted changes to the competition calendar in the 1st and 2nd Croatian League and Croatian Cup, taking into account the current COVID-19 pandemic. Also, new licensing deadlines have been set.

According to the recommendation of the umbrella European football organization, UEFA, the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) management has considered all the options in the calendar to allow a successful end to the competition year. Considering that the further course of the coronavirus pandemic is unpredictable, the HNS Executive Board has adopted three calendar options for the Croatian First League, Second League, and Croatian Cup competitions.

HNS has been in communication with the Central State Office for Sport on this subject, which is aware of and agrees with the decisions cited here.

Depending on the epidemiological situation in the Republic of Croatia and the decisions of the competent authorities, the Executive Board will, by a specific decision, determine which version of the competition calendar change will apply.

In addition, the Olympic Committee has set deadlines by which it will announce a possibly selected version of the decision:

Option 1
1st HNL Competition Starts: May 16, 2020
2nd HNL Competition Starts: May 23, 2020
Completion of the 1st HNL and 2nd HNL Competition: July 18, 2020
Deadline: April 20, 2020

Option 2
1st HNL and 2nd HNL Competition Starts: May 30, 2020
Completion of the 1st HNL and 2nd HNL Competition: July 25, 2020
Deadline: May 4, 2020

Option 3
1st HNL and 2nd HNL Competition Starts: June 13, 2020
Completion of the 1st HNL Competition: August 2, 2020
Completion of 2nd HNL Competition: 1st August 2020
Deadline: May 18, 2020

You can find the suggested calendar options with all competition dates, including the semi-finals and finals of the Croatian Cup HERE.

In addition, the Executive Board, in accordance with the recommendation of UEFA, extended all deadlines related to deciding on the licensing and, therefore, amendments to the Rules on Licensing of HNS Clubs were made. The new deadlines are as follows:

First instance decision: May 15, 2020
First instance decision delivered: May 20, 2020
Deadline for appeal: May. 28, 2020.
Final licensing decision: by June 15, 2020
Final decision to refuse the license: by June 15, 2020
Submission of the list of license seekers: by June 20, 2020.

Finally, as recommended by UEFA, criterion F.05 "Future Financial Information" (Articles 35-40 of the Regulations) will not apply in this year's licensing process.

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

April 7, 2020 - Neno Belan, one of Croatia's most famous songwriters, presents a new version of an old single performed with his daughter Nikolina Belan. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet "Corona", Neno Belan's reflection on the current global coronavirus pandemic.

Considering all concerts are currently on hold, one of Croatia's most famous musicians is spending quite some time at home, often cleaning out his apartment while self-isolating in Rijeka. This is where Neno Belan discovered the original tapes of his hit song "Ivona".

The song is from his album Space Twist, which was a huge hit in the late 1990s. Contributing to the "stay at home" message, which is increasingly promoted by the Civil Protection Headquarters, "Ivona" quickly turned into "Corona". Thus, the 1998 song received new lyrics that referenced the current situation, but in Belan's special way. 

The message of the song encourages people to stay home, reducing their chances of infection, but also comically presents the pandemic. 

"I am keeping a positive attitude about the whole situation; this threat will pass soon; everything will be fine; we just need to follow the instructions of our Headquarters. I think we all need to be optimistic and have faith in a better tomorrow to deal with this adversity," Neno Belan points out.

A video was also recorded for the song in Belan's home studio. Namely, it was filmed with Neno's cellphone, and an important role was played by daughter Nikolina, who, together with her father, also directed the video. It was edited by famous Croatian cinematographer Tomislav Brđanović.

All proceeds from this single will be credited to the Ministry of Health account for the fight against the coronavirus and for reconstructing the city of Zagreb, which suffered in the recent earthquake.

Source: Jutarnji List

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

''Vaccines are very powerful weapon in the fight against diseases like this. Clinical studies for vaccines last from six to nine months. I don't believe we will have a vaccine [for coronavirus] before the end of this year,'' Krunoslav Capak said.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of April, 2020, Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, told N1 television that the coming weeks were crucial in regard to the further development of the coronavirus epidemic in Croatia.

"We have a lot of people in self-isolation, these people have been in contact with those who are sick [with coronavirus]. It's important for these people to remain in isolation, and not to have any new contacts. If they fall ill in the meantime, then their contacts will also be at high risk of contracting the disease. We're trying to create a buffer zone so that the disease doesn't spread any further,'' he said.

Croatia's strict anti-epidemic measures will not be lifted in the coming period.

"We're analysing the situation every day, but in the coming weeks, which I repeat, are going to be critical, we aren't planning on loosening up the measures," he added.

"We still have a lot of people in self-isolation, about 20,000 of them, many of them have been in contact with those who are sick and newly positive people are coming from that pool of people. It's very important that they respect the self-isolation measures so that new people don't fall ill. It's also very important that we don't give up now and that we reduce social contact as much as possible. If we manage to contain this, we will have a favourable epidemiological situation,'' Krunoslav Capak said. He then answered the question of how people in self-isolation are controlled.

"There are two ways in which that's done, either the patients report to their doctors and to epidemiologists, or they contact them. Those who develop symptoms suspected of being caused by COVID-19 should go for testing. It is very important that the contact between patients in self-isolation and their physician or an epidemiologist is only made occasionally. I have to mention that the police have a database of people who are in isolation and have the possibility to report any misdemeanor, depending on the nature of the crime,''

Croatia has an optimal number of tests. Is that true?

"It's very difficult to estimate what that number is. Some tested a lot so they failed to prevent the epidemic. The best example is Italy. Our doctor from Italy, Dr. Nela Srsen, said recently that the Italians were wrong. All those who were negative felt free, which doesn't mean that they can't develop COVID-19 the very next day,'' he said, explaining where Italy had gone wrong.

"It's a combination of everything. It was too late to introduce measures already when they had a massive epidemic in the north of the country. The mentality of the people also plays a big role in all this, it isn't good for citizens to behave nonchalantly, get together, go out for coffee, and that's what happened there,'' explained Krunoslav Capak.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is working hard to find a vaccine. When can we expect it?

"As you know, there are clinical vaccine trials going on in several places across the world. We can hope that they will prove to be good and safe. Vaccines are a very powerful weapon in the fight against diseases like this. Clinical studies of vaccines last from six to nine months. I don't believe we'll have a vaccine before the end of this year,''

There is a big rush for passes (propusnice). How are the [civil protection] headquarters handling it?

''The National Civil Protection Headquarters is trying make sure that what is essential to people's elementary lives isn't stopped, and it isn't trying to stand in the way of the economy. As for the epidemiological part - because of the movement of people that occurred at the time of the [Zagreb] earthquake, we introduced this measure, of course, with some exceptions. We aren't thinking of loosening up the measures on movement restriction at this point because the following weeks are crucial to curbing the spread of the coronavirus infection. After that, we'll analyse the situation and give priority to the measures introduced,'' Capak said.

In the end, Capak sent out a message to residents of Croatia:

"Be patient, listen to the staff's recommendations for a while longer. If the situation becomes favourable, we will certainly allow some of these measures to be removed to make it easier for people and families to function. Our goal is to curb infections, not to introduce measures and limit the functioning of people and families,'' he concluded.

Make sure to follow our dedicated section for more on coronavirus in Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 7th of April, 2020, as of Monday, every eighth legal resident of the Republic of Croatia has been issued with an e-pass (e-propusnica), which is an official document with which he can leave his place of registered permanent residence under the current coronavirus measures. As of noon yesterday, 565,221 e-passes have been issued. They were mostly issued by employers.

It turns out that according to the February's staffing data, every third employee has a pass. However, it should be borne in mind that since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of employees in Croatia has decreased and it is quite realistic for every other worker to have a document with which they can leave their place of residence, according to a report from Vecernji list.

It seems that almost one million people who live in Croatia are free to move around, this is partially because medical staff holding ID cards issued by the competent chambers involved in preventing the spread of coronavirus do not have to obtain an e-pass, but they are required to have a Croatian Medical Chamber card, a membership card of the Croatian Chamber of Nurses, the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists or a membership card ID card of the Croatian Chamber of Dental Medicine.

Passes are also not needed for members of the emergency services - firefighters, HGSS officers, or the Croatian Red Cross - when on duty and dressed in their respective uniforms.

However, there are also those who have been denied e-passes and 16,673 applications have been rejected for administrative reasons. Several thousand of those who are in self-isolation also wanted to get their hands on a pass, but coronavirus patients, coronavirus suspects and others in that situation are not allowed to complete the application process for obvious reasons.

There are no precise figures on just how many people who are fundamentelly not permitted to even apply for an e-pass have tried to do so, as an analysis is yet to be made of how many of them have received and still have an “active” order to stay at home and undergo fourteen days of self-isolation. There is also no current data on how many of those orders have now expired, or indeed how many holders of said orders have been fined for breaching them.

Make sure to follow our dedicated section for all you need to know about coronavirus in Croatia.