ZAGREB, Oct 21,  2020 - The head of the national Covid response team, Davor Bozinovic, said on Wednesday that as long as the number of people infected with coronavirus continued to grow they would concentrate on punishing violations of epidemiological measures, in particular legal entities.

Bozinovic visited the National Civil Protection Authority's warehouse in Jastrebarsko and told reporters that new measures would not be needed to curb the spread of coronavirus if measures already adopted were adhered to.

"We are monitoring the situation. The numbers are growing. They are growing outside Croatia too," said Bozinovic and underlined that they will concentrate the most on the measures in place, in particular the obligations of legal entities that organize events or other commercial acclivities where people fluctuate.

In that regard, he said, "we will punish any behavior that is not in accordance with the epidemiological measures."

He claimed that they had invested a lot of effort, including the Croatian Institute for Public Health which adopted detailed recommendations for all commercial and social activities so that they would not have to shut down.

"That effort has been transformed into specific recommendations by the response team," said Bozinovic, calling on all citizens to adhere to all measures as the only way to slow down the spread of the virus in Croatia.

He underscored that as long as the epidemic lasts, citizens have to avoid any large gatherings, private parties, and meetings.

He noted that the measures in place were intended for public events and not for events in people's homes. He warned, however, that it is in those circumstances that citizens forget themselves the most which then results in the virus spreading when they go home or back to work.

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ZAGREB, October 16, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Friday that Croatia had a serious increase in new COVID-19 cases and called on citizens to act seriously otherwise the virus would control their lives.

"Today the number of new infections for the first time has exceeded one thousand. The virus is spreading to the health system, retirement homes and is a serious threat all around. It is high time we took matters into our own hands. If we give up on personal responsibility, the virus will control our lives," Beros said and called on the citizens to adhere to epidemiological measures.

The measures are not a punishment, the minister said, addressing the public together with Croatian Public Health Institute head Krunoslav Capak regarding the record high number of 1,131 new coronavirus infections in Croatia.

Over the past 24 hours, 117 patients have been admitted to hospital, and three people died yesterday, Beros said.

He said that the health system was still functioning.

"Our goal is not to shut down economy, but to find a way to coexist with the virus," the minister said.

Capak: Worrying increase in infections

Capak said that there was a serious and worrying increase in the number of new infections, although there were no particular hotspots.

"We call on the citizens to accept the measures we have adopted this week and to act responsibly because that is the only way we can stop the increase," Capak said.

He added that introducing new epidemiological measures was not being considered at the moment, as they were waiting for the recently adopted measures to take effect. However, there is still room to tighten the measures.

Arena hall and other facilities to be put into operation

Ivica Luksic from Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital said that KB Dubrava was becoming increasingly filled with patients, while Zagreb's "Dr Fran Mihaljevic" infectious diseases hospital was filled to capacity, but the number of patients requiring intensive care had not increased significantly.

We are keeping things under control, but we as a society have to be serious and protect the health system, Luksic said.

According to Beros, the health system should be able to meet the needs, and he noted that there are 917 intensive care specialists and residents, 14,460 hospital beds, 800 ventilators and about 1,450 beds in intensive care units.

Plans are underway to put additional facilities, including the Arena hall in Zagreb, into operation if the number of COVID patients continues to grow.

"If the health system becomes overburdened, there will be problems with treating all patients," the minister said.

ZAGREB, September 21, 2020 - Head of the Croatian Institute for Public Health (HZJZ)  Krunoslav Capak announced on Monday that isolation for people who have been infected with the coronavirus would be shortened from 14 to 10 days.

Talking to N1 commercial broadcaster, Capak said the the most important change relates to criteria to end isolation. HZJZ documents that were released today note that isolation lasts for ten days instead of the 14 as was the case until now.

"The latest data indicates that a person's infectiousness declines significantly after seven days. After ten days that person is no longer contagious. There is no need for them to be in isolation for more than 10 days. If they have not had a temperature or symptoms in the preceding 24 hours, they can come out of isolation, with the exception of serious cases," said Capak.

He underscored that people who had been positive or have evidence that they have recovered from the infections, do not need to go into self-isolation for a period of three months, upon their recovery, even if they come into contact with an infected person.

The epidemiologist added that the criteria for testing will not change significantly except for students in dormitories and for people attending medically related courses and they will be treated as medical staff. Medical staff, people at risk and people who work in aged care facilities will continue to have priority for testing, he added.

Capak explains that today's figure of 70 new cases of the virus does not match the reality as Covid clinics work shorter hours during the weekend with less staff and fewer tests are conducted, however, it is a good sign that for two days the numbers have been declining.

As far as the spike in numbers over the summer is concerned, Capak said that this was more manifest at the end of August. "It takes some time for more complicated cases of the disease to appear and for someone who needs to be put on a ventilator to succumb to the disease," he said.

People with grave symptoms, with chronic diseases or some other underlying conditions are hospitalised, he said, adding that there were about 2,500 such cases while a little under ten percent of those with such grave symptoms die.

Currently there are no clusters anywhere in Croatia but we will need to follow the consequences of the folklore festival in Vinkovci and the pride parade in Zagreb which were held last weekend, where a lot of people gathered, he said.

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September 11, 2020 - The Voice of Entrepreneurs Association and members of the Initiative of Bars and Nightclubs have been warning the competent institutions for days that, due to the epidemiological measures in force, over 1000 facilities will be completely closed and workers will be fired. For this reason, nightclubs strike back as they have organised an action "5 hours forward, 25% backward" during which, on September 11 and 12, they will be open from 19:00 to 24:00, Slobodna Dalmacija reports.

The measure restricting work until midnight has been extended and it has been announced that it will be extended until the end of the year. That is why many nightclubs have decided, in compliance with all epidemiological measures, to open their doors this weekend from 19:00, five hours before midnight.

''Our goal is to open clubs at a time when we're allowed to work, for people who support us and send a message that we aren't spreaders of the virus as we're being stigmatised to be. Friday is exactly 28 days since the work ban, the number of patients isn't falling, and the minister is extending the measures. We ultimately turned out to be the culprits for everything, regardless of whether we adhere to the measures or not.  We don't complain about the set rules, keeping a distance, measuring temperatures and the like, we can respect all that, we just ask to be allowed to work. I'd like to invite everyone who supports us to visit the clubs that are part of the action on Friday and Saturday,'' said Bozidar Bulic, the owner of a disco club.

''It's worth recalling that more than 15,000 employees and associates (musicians, singers, security guards, marketing agencies, beverage distributors, DJs, photographers, public address and lighting technicians) will lose their jobs in the difficult economic and social situation ahead, if such measures are continued. The Voice of Entrepreneurs Association supports all those who want to work,'' the Association stated.

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ZAGREB, September 8, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that the intentional calculated risk in relaxing epidemiological measures enabled the reactivation of the economy and that the policy of reopening the country was based on expert estimates.

Asked by reporters on the margins of a convention of Croatian exporters whether the government's calculated risk helped the tourism sector, while on the other hand it was detrimental to exporters due to a surge in new cases in the recent weeks, which was why some countries put Croatia on their quarantine lists, Plenkovic answered that without the reopening of the borders, there would not have been seven million visitors this summer and Croatia would not have achieved 50% of last year's tourist industry turnover.

There would have been a complete lockdown and quarantine if there had been no calculated risk, Plenkovic said, recalling that currently no government in the world is in favour of a lockdown.

Commenting on the official extension of job retention measures and other forms of assistance to the economy affected by the corona crisis, the premier said that it was important to provide fast and ample help, and the state authorities had done so this spring when many businesses had been hit by the crisis.

Calibrating assistance by size of damage suffered

Now we are calibrating the assistance, there are measures for micro businesses, a shortened working week and assistance to the activities worst hit by the crisis, Plenkovic said, adding that he believed that his cabinet did it right.

The schemes and grants which are estimated to cost 800 million kuna are "an investment in the future of the Croatian economy and provides a start for the recovery," he said.

Asked about the possible extension of moratoriums on enforced debt collection, Plenkovic said that the government had provided maximum assistance, however, loans and bills must be settled.

"Measures that can alleviate the situation are in place while on the other hand, there is no place for measures that can turn the whole situation into an endless write-off of debts, he explained.

Plenkovic welcomed today's announcement that the local Infinum company and Germany's Porsche Digital would invest €10 million in a joint company that will build digital products for the auto industry, and hoped that more similar companies will find their place in Croatia in the future.

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ZAGREB, Sept 6, 2020 - A total of 225 new coronavirus cases have been registered in Croatia in the past 24 hours and one person has died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.

The number of active cases has increased to 2,758 and 296 of them are hospitalized, including 21 on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case of infection with the novel virus was confirmed in Croatia, 11,964 people have been infected, of whom 198 have died and 9,008 have recovered. Currently, 8,964 people are in self-isolation.

To date, 191,360 people have been tested, including 3,509 in the last 24 hours.

New measures for Bjelovar-Bilogora County

At the suggestion of the Civil Protection Headquarters of Bjelovar-Bilogora County, the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia adopted a Decision on September 5th on the introduction of necessary epidemiological measures for Bjelovar-Bilogora County.

The decision applies from September 7th, 2020, and limits the number of people at wedding ceremonies to 50, at other private ceremonies to 20.

Also, the number of persons who may be present at funerals is limited to 50. Carmine can be held only in a family circle with a maximum of 20 people, and condolences must not be expressed through close contact.

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ZAGREB, September 4, 2020 - The situation in Croatian prisons is good and epidemiological measures have prevented the spread of coronavirus, Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said in parliament on Friday during a debate on a bill on the execution of prison sentences.

He said two prisoners had been positive for the virus but they did not infect fellow prisoners.

There has been a "relatively small number of incident situations" in Croatian prisons when taking into consideration that over 12,000 prisoners pass through them annually, he said, adding that it was necessary to continue to work on the professionalisation of prison staff.

MPs said conditions in some prisons were bad and that convicts were not treated equally due to delays in serving their sentences.

Vili Matula of the green-left bloc asked how the manipulation of rules would be stopped. "(Tomo) Horvatincic is drinking coffee in Samobor, while saying that he is not going to prison because of grave illnesses."

Davor Dretar of the Homeland Movement said there was a "privileged caste who start feeling ill as soon as a final sentence strikes them." He also mentioned missing memory cards and escapes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and said this party would not endorse the bill.

Misel Jaksic of the Social Democrats said changes in prisons alone would not change the judicial system and that it cannot be said that tis is working as long as there are cases like Zdravko Mamic and Horvatincic.

Zeljko Sacic of the Sovereignits praised corrections officers for doing a complex and tough job, calling for improvement of their status and of the conditions for visiting prisoners.

Veljko Kajtazi of the ethnic minorities group said conditions in prisons had improved over the past ten years but that there was s shortage of corrections officers and that some prisons were overcrowded and had poor sanitary conditions.

Presenting the bill, Minister Malenica said it ensured the equal status of all prisoners, raised the security of correctional institutions, improved the conditions of serving sentences, reduced costs in the long term and dealt with overcrowding.

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ZAGREB, Aug 26, 2020- There are now some 500,000 tourists in Croatia and if the epidemiological situation remains stable and everyone complies with recommendations, we can certainly expect another two months of tourism turnover this year, the National Tourist Board (HTZ) director, Kristjan Stanicic, said on Wednesday.

Stanicic met with representatives of Lika-Senj and Karlovac county tourist board representatives at Plitvice Lakes.

Lika-Senj county tourism board director Ivan Radosevic assesses that tourist trade in that county is very good compared to initial forecasts, saying that "August has brought an excellent 67% of last August's results, and year to date we have stood at 54% of last year's levels."

Currently, there are visitors in that county from Germany, Croatia, and Poland and the situation is similar in Karlovac County with the local tourist board's director Dina Begic saying that currently, the county is generating about 30% of last year's turnover.

They both underscored that this year the number of local guests has increased and account for 30% of tourism turnover.

Stanicic recalled measures from May until now which enabled tourism turnover, including a focus on marketing and information campaigns conducted on key European markets where the majority of holidaymakers come from.

Considering everything, Stanicic is exceptionally satisfied with the summer part of the tourism year and with that in August alone when 67% of last year's August turnover was achieved.

He announced a campaign for the shoulder season with emphasis on continental tourism, nautical and gastronomic tourism focusing on the closest markets.

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ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020- Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Sunday that she was satisfied with this year's tourist season, with tourist turnover standing at 50% of last year's turnover, or 20% more than expected. 

"According to our projections as well as those of the World Tourism Organisation, we should have been at 30% of last year's result. But we are currently at 50% and realistically speaking, we can be satisfied with those figures," Brnjac told reporters in the Istrian town of Barban, where she attended a local equestrian tournament.

She noted that neighboring countries and other Mediterranean countries had seen a drop in tourist turnover of 70-80%.

Brnjac went on to say that all countries, including those that have put Croatia on the list of epidemiologically unsafe countries, followed the epidemiological situation, and revised their measures every two weeks.

"Epidemiological measures need to be maintained so that the good figures we have had until now could continue. But we must be aware of the fact that in March, April, May and the first half of June we did not have the kind of tourist season we had expected," Brnjac said, adding that she expected good tourism results to continue in September.

"We expect the season to continue, it is not over, but only if we have good epidemiological measures in place and good weather," she said, adding that the epidemiological situation in Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties was very good, which was why they were having good results.

Asked how one should prepare for 2021, which would not be an easy year, Brnjac said that it was of the utmost importance to preserve jobs and stability in the tourist sector.

"Tourism has always been a branch of economy where the situation changes quickly and which adapts to those changes quickly. Making sure Croatia is recognizable as a safe destination that takes care of its guests, along with the continuation of good results, is what gives us the impetus for next year," Brnjac said.

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