ZAGREB, October 9, 2020 - In the last 24 hour, of 4,417 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia, 457 have returned positive, and there are currently 2,438 active cases, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Friday.

A total of 385 COVID-19 patients are receiving hospital treatment, including 28 who are placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, this infectious disease has claimed three more lives, bringing the total number of fatalities to 313.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first case of the coronavirus infection, 19,446 people have contracted the disease, and 16,695 people have recovered, including 222 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 11,729 people are self-isolating.

To date, a total of 348,950 people have been tested for the virus.

October 7, 2020 - Medical professionals remain cautious, but German media reports that scientists in their country have evidence to suggest Sweet Wormwood is effective in treating COVID-19. Known as Slatki Pelin in Croatia, the plant grows in Dalmatia and Herzegovina

67-year-old German media outlet Deutsche Welle has written that scientists within their country have discovered that Sweet Wormwood is effective in treating COVID-19. The plant is known as Slatki pelin in Croatian and grows wild within inland Dalmatia and nearby Herzegovina.

Sweet Wormwood is known as Slatki pelin in Croatia and grows in Dalmatia and Herzegovina, where people have been using it in tea as a herbal remedy © Stefan.lefnaer

Scientists from the German Max-Planck Institute in Potsdam are researching how to treat patients with the plant. Though the World Health Organisation says there is currently no evidence that sweet wormwood helps in the treatment of COVID-19, Dr Andrea Jurić, acting director of the Institute of Public Health of West Herzegovina Canton, confirmed to Deutsche Welle that she was aware of the plant's positive effects on COVID-19 patients within Herzegovina. Some of the region's inhabitants have been using the plant to make tea for use as a herbal remedy for those who have COVID-19. Herbal remedies are commonly used across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When asked about the German media report, Croatian Minister for Health Krunoslav Capak said that no comment could be made without recognised clinical trials having first been undertaken. “We in the medical profession are primarily guided by scientific research and clinical trials of drugs and medical procedures,” he said, after reminding journalists early reports that chloroquine and some other antiviral drugs were successful in treating COVID-19 had since been disproved by clinical trials. “Only when something is proved to be useful can we talk about it.”

Sweet Wormwood or Artemisia annua in Latin, is also sometimes known as Sweet Annie, Sweet Sagewort, Annual Mugwort and Annual Wormwood. It grows naturally in North America and in Asia too. In China, it has long been used in herbal medicine and is widely cultivated for that purpose. The plant already has an established reputation for combating malaria.

Sweet Wormwood © Kristian Peters

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ZAGREB, Oct 7, 2020 - Croatian hoteliers expect this year's revenues to drop 25-75% due to the COVID pandemic and half believe recovery will take two or more years, with holiday tourism expected to recover faster and convention tourism much slower, a director in the Horwath HTL consulting company says.

Such findings come from the company's analysis of the so-called COVID year in which the pandemic has affected every industry around the world, notably tourism.

Sinisa Topalovic says the forecasts for 2021 and the growth of the global GDP are somewhat encouraging, but that recovery by country will depend and be faster if they are industrially strong, while being harder and slower in those focused on services such as Croatia.

Global and country forecasts say consumption is expected to recover in 12 to 24 months, which is a very long time, notably in tourism, which has been globally affected by the pandemic, from air travel to the hotel industry, which are recording drops in revenues from 60% to 80%, and they will not recover soon, says Topalovic.

Croatia at EU's bottom in hotel occupancy but near the top in prices

In such circumstances, Croatia managed to generate above-average results when compared with the competition in the first eight months of the year, about 40% of last year's turnover, but next year could be at least 10 to 20 percentage points better, also thanks to this year's experience, according to a Horwath HTL analysis.

Croatia's average hotel occupancy rate in the first eight months of this year was 24%, ranking it at the bottom of the EU, but in terms of prices it ranks relatively high because during the short summer holiday season Croatian hoteliers managed to keep relatively good prices, which is good given that after being lowered due to the 2008-09 crisis, they took a long time to recover, says Topalovic.

Three markets saved the season

The analysis shows that only three markets, of the more than 70 from which tourists came to Croatia in the past, saved this year's season, generating up to 60% of the total turnover - Germany, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Croatian tourists "gave life to numerous destinations" and their arrivals and overnights registered the smallest decreases from the record year 2019, the analysis says.

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ZAGREB, Oct 7, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours 363 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia, bringing the number of active cases to 1,830, and five persons have died, the national COVID response team said on Wednesday.

Currently, 344 patients are hospitalized, including 26 on ventilators, while 9,675 persons are self-isolating.

Since February 25, when the first infection was registered in Croatia, 18,447 persons have been infected with the virus, of whom 309 have died, while 16,308 have recovered, including 116 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 338,594 persons have been tested, including 5,353 in the last 24 hours.

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October 7, 2020 - One writer's adventure through the Croatian health system, trying to get something everyone keeps telling her she should get - a flu shot! 

I've never had a flu shot in my life, not even after a friend of mine died after contracting flu at the age of 32. I don't have a valid explanation as to why I didn't do it, but in 2020 it's quite obvious that getting a flu shot is a public service we should all take advantage of, if at all possible. We're also being told that by the Croatian media and even some epidemiologists, as both the media and doctors have spent some time already inviting everyone to get a flu shot this year.

We know the number of doses of the vaccine which have been ordered. Some articles have appeared which describe the process of getting a vaccine in detail: if you're a chronically ill patient in a high-risk group, your LOM (liječnik obiteljske medicine, general practitioner, your family doctor you turn to for basic medical stuff like getting your prescriptions in the Croatian system) will provide you with the vaccine. Others will have to buy it, or, possibly, get the shot at their local institute of public health. The articles and all public communication regarding the flu vaccine this year have the same message: vaccinations will start on October 15th, so get your dose of the vaccine on time.

So, on October 1st, being the nerd that I am, I contacted my LOM, asking questions about the vaccine for myself and my partner. I'm thankfully not high-risk, but he is. The doctor tells me that they don't have the vaccine yet and they don't know when they will get it. When they eventually get it, they will only be providing the vaccine to those who have already been vaccinated there, as they will get a very limited number of doses. She also informed me that others will be able to get their shot free at the institute of public health and that more information will become available through the media (yes, even the doctors working with patients every day are fully expecting to learn the new information in the media!)

OK, we won't be able to get it through them, we'll just either buy it or go to Mirogojska (that's where the public health place in Zagreb is, and coincidentally, so is the cemetery), no big deal.

Yesterday I read a tweet by a guy I know about how he'd secured the flu shots for himself, his family and his employees (he owns a business). I asked him what he did, and how was that possible, and he explained that he'd put his needs on a waiting list in a pharmacy. That same day, in a Facebook post by a friend I discovered that she'd already purchased the vaccine for her family, and has already had it administered! I went to my neighbourhood pharmacy, where they informed me that yes, they had, in fact, already received the first batch of vaccines, they'd sold the entire batch of the Influvac Tetra vaccine they were allotted, they had no idea when the next batch is coming or how many doses they would receive, but she'd put me on the waiting list. The waiting list is, as you can imagine, a nightmare: the number of people on it is almost double than the last batch of the vaccine! But, she helpfully told me, you know, you can put your name on a few more pharmacy's waiting lists, to improve your chances of getting the vaccine.

Now, I don't want to be too harsh, but I do want to be harsh: that is insanity!

In this day and age, when we know we have an online system (which has been used, A LOT, this year, to make sure the people in self-isolation aren't coming to pharmacies), it would be trivial to write the code which would allow me to pre-register for the vaccine on my own, or for the elderly and less computer-savvy to do it through their LOMs or in the pharmacies. But, no, I have to call as many local pharmacies as possible, to get my name on their waiting lists, where there are numerous other people on the list before me in all of those pharmacies, and where we don't know if we'll be able to get the vaccine which was already being sold, which wasn't publicly disclosed, and is currently sold out and there might or might not be any more doses in Croatia to be purchased at all!

(I've decided to omit some less important points for this story, such as the fact that the second batch of the vaccine might or might not be the same kind or the whole mess they've managed to create around whether you need a prescription by your doctor to get the shot, as it would complicate the story to the point where nobody would read it to the end). 

It's not easy being a responsible citizen of Croatia, anyone who's ever lived here will confirm that. The Government and the systems in place make it very difficult to obey all the laws and rules and regulations and still get anything done (don't even get me started on what it's like to get a builder's permit...) But, in 2020, during the global pandemic and the anti-vax pandemic, while the experts are pleading with the public to get their flu shot this year, there's really no justification for making it so freaking difficult for responsible people to get their shots! And, besides, doesn't it make one wonder what things will look like once we finally get the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine? Will it be any easier to get for those of us who will opt to get vaccinated?

ZAGREB, October 5, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, there have been 138 new cases of the coronavirus infection and two fatalities in Croatia , and the number of active cases stands at 1,466, the national COVID-19 management team said on Monday.

There are 326 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 24 who are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was registered in Croatia, 17,797 people have contracted the coronavirus infection, of whom 300 have died, while 16,031 have recovered, including 182 who have recovered in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 8,923 people are self-isolating.

To date, 328,392 people have been tested for coronavirus, of whom 2,233 over the past 24 hours.

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ZAGREB, Oct 1, 2020 - Increasing pensions and changing the pension indexation model in relation to the average wage are some of the key topics to be discussed by the National Council for Pensioners and Elderly Persons, which held its first session on Thursday, on the International Day of Older Persons.

Associations of pensioners and the trade union of pensioners  SUH welcome the establishment of the national council as an advisory body to the government, said SUH head, Jasna Petrovic, ahead of the Council's session, held in the building of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family Affairs and Social Policy.

She said that they hoped the council would soon start working on serious issues since 61% of pensioners had pensions below the Croatian poverty threshold.

The council has recently been established through an agreement between the government and pensioners' associations as an advisory body in the area of pension and health insurance, social policy, and the protection of the elderly.

Increasing pensions allowances, changing the model of indexing them to the average wage, and changing the model of family pensions are some of the priorities for the sessions of the national council, said Petrovic.

"Our interest is to establish a kind of social dialogue with pensioners with the aim of improving the pension system, the social welfare system and all systems that deal with the elderly," Minister Josip Aladrovic said.

Although the council is an advisory body, Aladrovic said they wanted its work to result in concrete measures and visible effects.

Sixty-six residents of care homes die from COVID-19

One of the topics will be preventing the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic among elderly persons, and mid-October a campaign will be launched to raise awareness about the spread of the disease among the elderly population.

For this purpose, a committee for preventing and curbing the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic among elderly persons was established on August 24, led by epidemiologist Branko Kolaric.

To date, 66 residents of care homes have died, which 25% of the total number of coronavirus-related deaths.

Kolaric said Croatia had done a very good job compared to other countries where the percentage is between 50 and 70 percent.

He said their goal was for elderly citizens to receive the best possible care during the epidemic.

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ZAGREB, Oct 1, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, of 5,322 tests performed for coronavirus in Croatia, 234 new cases and four more deaths are reported in Croatia. Currently, there are 1,325 active cases, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Thursday.

Hospitals are treating 297 COVID patients, including 26 on ventilators.

Over the past 24 hours,161 persons have recovered.

Also, 7,903 persons are self-isolating.

Since February 25, when the new virus was first registered in Croatia, 16,827 persons have been infected, including 284 who have died, and 15,218 have recovered.

To date, 312,406 persons have been tested for coronavirus.

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October 1, 2020 - People in Croatia live for an average of 78 years, and the average age of COVID-19 fatalities is 76 years old

The average age of COVID-19 fatalities or those dying as of consequence of Coronavirus is 76.3 years, according to the latest statistics from the Croatian Institute of Public Health. At the time of writing, a total of 280 Coronavirus-related fatalities have so far been recorded in Croatia.

The average age of COVID-19 fatalities has decreased slightly compared to figures released earlier. At the beginning of May 2020, Croatia's Minister of Health announced that the average age of COVID-19 fatalities was 79.2 years.

Most Coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in the age group of 80 to 89 years. There have been 81 such deaths since the beginning of the epidemic. In the 70 to 79 age group, 71 people died, in the 90 to 99 age group, 34 people died, and in the 60 to 69 age group, 31 died.

In the age group of 50 to 59 years, 21 deaths occurred, and five deaths were recorded in the age group of 40 to 49 years. There have so far been no Coronavirus-related deaths among those under the age of 40 in Croatia. One person over the age of 100 has died from Coronavirus.

There is currently no accurate data on the average age of COVID-19 fatalities worldwide. The World Health Organization has previously said that of all Coronavirus-related deaths in Europe, more than 80 percent of the deceased had at least one pre-existing chronic disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease. Extremely serious, life-changing and even fatal cases of Coronavirus have been recorded in the under 40s in other countries.

The figures used in this news item were originally compiled by Index journalists Ilko Ćimić and Davor Tomšić. This news item is a direct translation of their original, which can be found in Index

Neither the author nor Total Croatia News draws any conclusion from this translation, the figures reported, or their comparison.

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ZAGREB, Sept 30, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Wednesday that the current hospitalization of 288 Covid-19 patients did not put the healthcare system under strain and added that patients were mostly the elderly with mild symptoms of that infectious disease.

Today 213 new cases were registered which is more than the daily numbers last week of about 204 however I am more interested in the number of patients in hospitals and today there are 14 more than yesterday, Beros told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting.

"Their clinical state is in line with their age. There are more elderly people among those infected and their state is a little more serious, however, we are still not seeing too great a burden on the health system," Beros said.

Asked about the introduction of e-referrals which was announced for October 1, Beros said that "e-referrals" will be up and running as soon as the IT system allows which could be tomorrow in fact.

With regard to setting self-isolation for Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, Beros said that he had not spoken to Jandrokovic but that he had been informed that Jandrokovic was placed in self-isolation.

"The procedure is the same for everyone and anyone who was in contact with an infected person has to go into self-isolation. That is best for them and for everyone else," said Beros.

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