Split Mayor: We Have a Sociological Issue - People, Stay Home!
March 20, 2020 - The Split Mayor has a message to all citizens - Stay Home!
From Thursday, Croatian citizens began life under a coronavirus lockdown. The borders are closed, everything that isn’t deemed necessary to work isn't operating, gatherings of more than five people are banned, and social distancing must continue at least one meter away, reports Slobodna Dalmacija and Dalmatinski Portal.
As a guest on the HTV program Otvoreno, answering the question of how Split is coping with these new, restrictive measures imposed because of the danger of the coronavirus pandemic, Split Mayor Andro Krstulovic Opara said:
“In addition to the fact that this crisis is certainly a health and economic problem, it is also a sociological phenomenon. Unlike the Prime Minister and the four-member Staff, I will say something that is neither calm nor laid-back. It is not clear to me how people do not realize the gravity of the situation and still walk the streets. Today the promenade on Žnjan was full of people. People are walking around Marjan. Buses full of pensioners.
We have sociological issues and by no means are the people listening to the nice, suggestive messages of the National Headquarters. If we want to overcome the crisis, we have to listen to the HQ, stay home. Stay home, especially the elderly. You have your neighbors, people you live with, and Red Cross activists to help you. Walking around town is incomprehensible to me.”
He also spoke about what was being done to avoid an economic disaster.
“The City of Split has already adopted a package of measures of HRK 150 million, a total of 11 measures. Among other things, no rent will be charged to outlets in City areas; furthermore, we will not go into enforcement. We must preserve the private sector, we must not allow ourselves to be the biggest loser. In addition to the scientific problem, we have an economic one. Tomorrow, my advisory team will meet and in parallel, we will align ours with the measures taken by the Government,” explained Opara.
The director of the Croatian Institute for Public Health and a member of the national crisis staff, Krunoslav Capak, said that staying outside can be beneficial if the weather is nice, but only with precautionary measures.
“Unfortunately, colder weather will come from Sunday and we will prepare a set of recommendations for behavior indoors,” he said and explained that not all Covid-19 patients need to be hospitalized.
*Follow this page for updates on the coronavirus in Croatia from Total Croatia News.
To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow. TCN's dedicated page.
Sisak Company Developing Superior Ozone Disinfectant Technology for Decade
Coronavirus is taking public health and the global economy by storm and spreading mercilessly, causing a previously unthinkable amount of problems for both people and businesses, and the costs will just keep on adding up for months to come, but it isn't all so bleak for one Sisak company.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 19th of March, 2020, although the extent of the damage this situation will cause to the economy can for the moment only be estimated, there are also companies that are unlikely to even feel the effects of the coronavirus crisis, but will actually experience growth during these harsh conditions. One of them is Mozon from Sisak, which deals with ozone technology, which, after fluoride, is the strongest known oxidizer and is widely used in disinfection.
As explained by Zdravko Medved, the director of this Sisak company, ozone breaks down chemicals to basic, naturally occurring particles and is now widely used in the air and water disinfection industry.
"Ozone technology offers many benefits - it's effective at room temperature, it leaves no chemical traces (ozone is converted into oxygen), and it provides greater guarantees against pathogenic bacteria and other micro-organisms such as viruses.
Furthermore, the regular use of ozone saves on the use of chemicals, energy and water. In medicine, it's used as a sterilising agent for operating rooms, hospitals, dispensaries and waiting rooms,'' says Medved, adding that other extremely important uses of ozone should also be mentioned - as a water and air steriliser, in cooling and heating systems, in industrial plants, in post-fire restoration, in chemical synthesis, in soil maintenance, in ecology, in wastewater disposal, etc.
Ozone deactivates the SARS virus extremely quickly and efficiently, and various studies in the world have proved that to be true. Back in 2011, Zdravko Medved began cooperation with an international team of experts who wanted to extend the application of ozone to the area of Southeastern Europe
"Scientists who are actively researching coronavirus have learned that viral particles can be dangerous for up to nine days when remaining in a space outside of the human body. Ozone is generally superior to other disinfectants because it reacts with all particles in the area while other disinfectants cover their share of the ''pest'' spectrum.
''Most scientific efforts on the effects of ozone have focused on the propensity of ozone to separate lipid molecules. Indeed, once a virus's lipid envelope is fragmented, its DNA or RNA nucleus cannot survive,'' explains Medved.
From this Sisak company, they point out that research has shown that precisely where large numbers of people from different parts of the world fluctuate, and that these areas of frequent human movement are an ideal place for the spread of pathogens by harmful airborne microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi).
Therefore, they say, ozone is currently in high demand across the world and is very regularly used in the disinfection of various spaces where there is a great fluctuation of people - hospitals, ambulances and public transport, hotels, halls, convention centres, cafes, bus stations, trains, airports, schools, kindergartens, retirement homes, gyms, changing rooms, and so forth.
One of the world's busiest airports, more precisely the one in Dubai, has injected ozone into its very central air-conditioning system so that all buildings are enriched with this oxidant, while the airport in Shanghai is cleaned with ozone-enriched water.
This Sisak-based company came to ''life'' about ten years ago when Medved began collaborating with an international team of technology and innovation experts who wanted to expand the use of ozone into Southeastern Europe.
"Soon, the need to set up a company that would carry out all the activities in the region emerged, which is how Mozon came to be. We're continuing to cooperate with the world's top experts, but we also have our own laboratory and facilities in Sisak where we test and develop our products. We cover the whole region, and in addition to Croatia, we mostly work in Slovenia,'' Zdravko Medved stated.
Mozon states that they are able to partner with companies to offer ozone application solutions ranging from domestic use to use in large industrial plants.
Ozone is most widely used in Croatia for water disinfection since the water from water pumps is loaded with heavy metals and the chlorine doesn't help. Additionally, all water bottlers use ozone to disinfect their bottles and their other equipment. When it comes to space disinfection, this Sisak company mostly works alongside hotels, public transport companies and pharmacies.
Thus, in Croatia's southernmost city of Dubrovnik, they disinfected the entire public transport fleet which belongs to the company Libertas-Dubrovnik, just over the border in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Medjugorje, they dealt with accommodation and social facilities, and in Zagreb, they created the conditions for the transition from the old chlorinated pool water base to the new ozone disinfection base.
This current, ongoing situation with the coronavirus is also new to them, but they stress that they are fully prepared and have already offered their help to the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
"We've been getting a lot of inquiries over recent days about disinfecting all sorts of spaces, but part of our capacity has been made available to combat the spread of this virus. Just for comparison, the Italian region of Veneto has ordered the disinfection of all public transport vehicles including vessels in Venice, offices and other city premises are being ozonised, while in the city of Taranto in the Puglia region, all of the schools are being treated with ozone as part of a coronavirus prevention programme. Its wide-spread secret lies in the fact that it is the strongest natural disinfectant and no harmful by-products remain after it is used,'' concluded the director of this Sisak company.
For more on Croatian companies, follow Made in Croatia. For rolling information about coronavirus in Croatia, follow our dedicated section.
Can You Sew? Udruga TRIM Seeks Help Making Hvar Protective Masks for Health Volunteers
March 19, 2020 - The homemade production of protective masks on Hvar has begun! And Udruga TRIM is looking for volunteers with sewing skills to increase production.
One of the positive things to observe in this time of great crisis is the sense of solidarity and community, as people come together for the common good. Croatians always come together in times of adversity, and that sense of community is one of the best things about living here. People are helping in the ways that they are able and know how, and one such example are the fabulous ladies from Udruga TRIM in Vrboska, whose activities preserving the traditions of the island have been a valuable addition to Hvar's cultural life.
And creativity is one of the many things on display with the ladies from TRIM, who have stepped up at this troubled time to develop a line of protective masks for the health volunteers and professionals of the island.
I love the lavender touch, protective masks from the lavender island.
The TRIM team have developed prototypes of the protective masks, which are 100% cotton, and they are looking for volunteers with sewing skills (and a machine) to produce masks for the health workers.
The local Red Cross is about to start an operation on the island, I understand, where they will be tending to the needs of the old and infirm with house to house visits, so the production of the protective masks is quite urgent.
If you have a little time and better sewing skills than I possess, and you would like to get involved, the ladies at TRIM would love to hear from you. My understanding is that the sewing process is not difficult and the procedure quite straightforward, but to find out more from the ladies themselves, you can contact them through their Facebook page.
Every little helps. Stay safe.
Captain Antonija Trupinić: A Military Pilot Who Knows No Fear
March 19, 2020 - Meet the woman who played with dolls, just like every other little girl, but became a military pilot, handling an American helicopter Bell 206 B JetRanger. TCN's Janja Sestak meets military pilot Antonija Trupinić.
She wanted to become a singer, an actress, or a ballerina, and those were professions that people proposed to her. In elementary school, she found interest in everything: folklore, choir, recitation, acting. All of that was assuming that Antonija was made for the social type of profession.
Ana Sesto
Once she said to her mother, who is a nurse: ''Mum, I want to attend the school that lasts the longest," and her mother told her, "Then enroll at the medical faculty."
But in the second year of high school, the social side of Antonija prevailed once more. She was so amazed by her professor of the Croatian language that she thought that had to be her choice.
"She used to come to our class, reciting "Smrt Smail-age Čengića," off by heart. I said to myself: ''That's it, I want to be smart like her. I was always admiring wise women who leave a mark in the world as they go through life.''
But one day, Antonija noticed a poster of MORH in the school with the following words: "Accept the challenge, become a military pilot."
"When you're 17, you think that you're the smartest living being alive. As I was writing for the school newspaper and missed one deadline, one of my professors said to me: ''You will never achieve something nor graduate from college because you know nothing about responsibility.''
And as I was standing right in front of that poster, I pointed to it and said rebelliously: "I will become a military pilot."
Dino Svorcina
As integrity was always something she held onto, Antonija couldn't just go against her own words. She started thinking seriously about that. She applied to college, was invited to take a medical examination, and found out that she was one of the eight people who passed... just eight people among 1200 people who applied.
"Although all of my previous activities have had nothing to do with my current profession, there were some connections. When I was taking my medical examination, I was asked to hold my breath for as long as I can. As I was in choir, I trained my diaphragm in such a way that some time without taking a breath isn't a big deal."
Before a person enrolls in college, they need to pass the flight screening. This course lasts one month, requires learning about flying and testing if you can bear the flight. If you learn how to operate an airplane, then you're ready. If a flight simulator pops out in your head, you're wrong. They operate real aircraft.
The explanation is more than clear; if you aren't put in the actual situation, you won't know how to react when you do find yourself in it.
Antonija shared her classroom back in high school with 30 girls, and then she was alone among seven males. That situation showed her that there is no stronger or weaker sex. There are stronger or weaker women, as well as stronger or weaker men.
The fact that she was the only woman among seven men didn't bother her at all. "If I'm here, that means I'm equally as good as they are."
During her schooling, she was so thrilled with her professors that, after she graduated from college, she enrolled to become a flight instructor.
"That was the moment when I realised that smart people are the ones who amaze me. There was no question they didn't know how to answer, so I wanted to be just like them, I wanted to have my cadets and teach them about flying."
But just one year after she graduated, she fell off a scooter and broke her pelvis in four places, which for the first time in her life, made her think about her body. "You can change your city, your car, you can change almost whatever you want, but your body goes with you. Nobody cares about your body as much as you should.”
But giving up was never an option. “People have recovered from much worse, why wouldn't I do the same? I approached my injury very rationally and, regardless of the doctor's prognoses, which weren't the brightest, I decided to be me once again. Antonija, who doesn't know an alternative. So I started training in fitness and bodybuilding and, as I always wanted more, in the end, I finished with more than excellent results."
Polleosport
After she recovered from her pelvic injury, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a flight instructor. Her regular workday starts at 07:00. Firstly, she, along with her students, examine the questions on things they are going to do that day in the classroom.
After that, the flight follows. Two hours of flying, two hours of analysing. At 13:00, lunchtime begins, and parallel to that, she prepares for another lecture with her students for the next day. Her workday lasts eight hours, and there is no idling, no random "let's grab a coffee'' scenarios. She knows precisely what she has to do at that exact moment.
"If you consider that I have two cadets for two years, it's clear that we become friends. And I have to say, there is no greater joy and feeling of pride than when your cadets graduate and become lieutenants. Watching them earn their wings and knowing that you played the most significant role in that process is something precious."
Just how much she loves her job is highlighted by the fact she also completed her training as a test pilot. When something has been changed inside of a helicopter, she goes on the first flight and checks if every parameter works well. She has never considered becoming a civil pilot. "Being a military pilot gives me much more freedom and adrenaline than being a civil pilot would."
She currently flies in an American helicopter Bell 206 B JetRanger, which can serve for pilot training, VIP transport, reconnaissance, and easier medical transport.
When asked about the most stressful thing about her job, she didn't know the answer. "We're so well trained that we're always ready for B, C, or plan D if A doesn't work. We train our students to trust that machine, and themselves."
Then Antonija continued in a relaxed tone: "Once, the back door of the helicopter opened, but I just continued to fly. There was nothing to panic about. Sometimes I fly without doors because of filming or something. That really isn't a problem for me."
"People assume that I have no fear of heights, but I wouldn't feel comfortable looking down from a tall building. When I'm in a helicopter, there is something beneath me, so I feel safe."
Ana Sesto
But there is something she isn't enthusiastic about: "One of the things I wouldn't do voluntarily anymore is a parachute jump. When I first had to jump from a plane 800 meters above the ground, I was excited and wanted to be first. The second time, I knew what could happen, how the wind can change your direction, so I said, ''You can go first, thank you.''
In the military, there is no difference between females and males, nor did she ever notice discrimination in the army. "We teach our students in a way that they must know all things equally." But, outside of the army, people used to remain silent after she answered their questions about what she does for a living. "They don't know what to say to me, so they change the subject."
How much Antonija enjoys what she is doing, it proved best by this sentence: "Believe me, every pilot would like to fly for the rest of their life if there was such a thing."
As she said, baby Antonija would not have believed that adult Anotnija became all that she did. "But one thing for sure, I would always advise her: Never stop being curious. And pay more attention to math and physics lectures. You'll need that one day."
To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
Can Azithromycin, an Old Drug Discovered in Croatia Help Against COVID-19?
March 19, 2020 - Azithromycin is an antibiotic drug, discovered by the scientists working for Pliva Pharmaceutical company in 1980. 40 years later there are some indications it might be very useful in a fight against the current health crisis, the Covid-19 virus.
Yesterday, while scrolling aimlessly through my Twitter feed, I stumbled upon a tweet by a scientist I follow:
This is my plot of the latest data of the French trial on the use of plaquenil and azithromicin against #COVID19. The numbers are very small but still encouraging to see after 6 days 6/6 successfully treated versus 2/16 in the control group https://t.co/MMUZ0VR2mr pic.twitter.com/Q1L2uOMbxQ
— Xavier Didelot (@XavierDidelot) March 18, 2020
I can't say I was shocked by this news, but I was intrigued. Azithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic discovered by a team of scientists in Zagreb, Pliva research department: Gabrijela Kobrehel, Gorjana Radobolja-Lazarevski, and Zrinka Tamburašev, led by Slobodan Đokić, back in 1980. It was a blockbuster drug, for which Pliva had a licensing agreement with the American pharma giant, Pfizer. Pfizer sold it in Western Europe and the US, while Pliva produced it and sold it in Eastern Europe. The drug's financial success was huge and had a large impact on the pharmaceutical industry in Croatia.
Azithromycin is an antibiotic, so it's obvious that its main purpose is to help our bodies fight bacterial infections. Its anti-inflammatory properties have been known and researched for a long time., again mostly by the scientists in the Pliva research institute (full disclosure: I used to be one of those scientists a long time ago). And these days we seem to understand that the Covid-19 virus wrecks havoc with our immune system, which leads to the most serious complications of the disease. So it's no wonder scientists tested to see if azithromycin would be effective in helping human bodies fight against the virus, and one of the first results published combined azithromycin with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. US President Trump mentioned hydroxychloroquine today as one of the drugs which will immediately become available to doctors treating COVID-19 patients, but it shouldn't surprise anyone that his own Government agency, FDA, responded to that by urging caution.
We'll just have to wait and see if the drug originally created in Zagreb will be able to help fight the pandemic, in combination with some other drugs or alone.
Former President Grabar-Kitarović in Self-Isolation Due to Coronavirus
ZAGREB, March 19, 2020 - Former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Twitter on Thursday that she was in self-isolation and observing rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Grabar-Kitarovic had recently returned from the United States. She said in a Facebook post on 8 March that she had delivered a speech at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government on the many challenges facing Europe.
More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
President Milanović Receives Apostolic Nuncio Lingua
ZAGREB, March 19, 2020 - President Zoran Milanović on Thursday received the newly-appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia, Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, his office said in a press release.
Lingua is the doyen of the diplomatic corps in Croatia. He was appointed by Pope Francis in July 2019 and presented his credentials in October.
Lingua is the sixth papal envoy to Zagreb. He previously served as Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq, Jordan and Cuba. He had also worked in the papal representations in Ivory Coast and the United States as well as in the apostolic nunciatures in Italy and Serbia.
The meeting was attended by presidential foreign policy adviser Orsat Miljenić and the nuncio's adviser Janusz Stanislaw Blachowiak.
More news about relations between Croatia and Vatican can be found in the Politics section.
Miroslav Škoro: Minimum Wage for Everyone
ZAGREB, March 19, 2020 - The Homeland Movement party's leader, Miroslav Škoro, on Thursday proposed introducing a minimum wage for everyone except for socially vulnerable groups, pregnant women and new mothers, as well as healthcare workers, given the economic crisis in the country.
"Until the crisis ends, minimum wage for everyone," Skoro wrote on Facebook, proposing that it should apply to the government, presidents, former presidents, everyone in the state administration and state and public companies and institutions.
"Enough with the fake solidarity at the expense of employees in the private sector," Škoro said.
More news about Miroslav Škoro can be found in the Politics section.
Higher Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Alcohol, Soft Drinks as of April 1
ZAGREB, March 19, 2020 - The price of cigarettes will go up by up to HRK 2 per pack starting April, and there will also be an increase in the prices of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks with higher sugar content and energy drinks, the Croatian government decided on Thursday.
The government adopted regulations governing excise taxes and special taxes on those products. Three regulations were adopted - on excise taxes on tobacco and tobacco products, on excise taxes on alcohol and alcoholic drinks, and on the calculation and variables for special taxes on coffee and soft drinks - to come into force on April 1.
The regulation on excise taxes on tobacco and tobacco products will increase the tax by HRK 35, from HRK 335 to HRK 370 for a thousand products.
The Finance Ministry estimates that the state budget would get an additional HRK 400 million from the increase in the excise tax on tobacco and tobacco products.
The regulation on excise taxes on alcohol and alcohol beverages, the government estimates, would bring an additional HRK 30.3 million.
Excise taxes on beer, wine and other fermented beverages will not change, the government says.
Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said that in the EU Croatia had one of the lowest excise taxes on alcohol, and that it was followed only by Bulgaria.
Underscoring that the regulation on excise taxes had nothing to do with the coronavirus, Marić said that they had been in contact with domestic manufacturers of alcohol and alcoholic beverages.
The government also adopted a regulation on the calculation and variables for special taxes on soft drinks, and the changes were connected to the calculation of the special tax on soft drinks and energy drinks.
Now the excise on soft drinks consists only of a fixed part, HRK 40 per hectolitre, but under the new regulation it will also depend on the volume and sugar content.
The fixed part would remain, but it would be cut to HRK 20 per hectolitre, while the remaining part of the tax would depend on the sugar, taurine and methylxanthine content.
Based on these changes, the state budget should earn an additional HRK 64 million by the end of the year.
More news about taxes can be found in the Business section.
NGO Says Emergency Measures Can Last Only for Duration of Pandemic
ZAGREB, March 19, 2020 - The GONG nongovernmental organisation has said that measures being introduced by the Croatian government and most countries to alleviate the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic must not be misused, must be in line with the Constitution and must be in force only during the pandemic.
Restrictions that are being introduced must be motivated solely by reasons related to public health and they must be implemented in line with the Constitution, the NGO said on Thursday, underlining the importance of respect for rights and procedures in crisis situations.
As for Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović's announcement about the introduction of an information system for tracking infected persons and persons in self-isolation and other information solutions, GONG said that it raised the question of possible abuse and the need for supervision.
"The rule of law and civil liberties must not be forgotten due to the fear of infection. Restriction of individual rights and freedoms (Article 17 of the Constitution) requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority. If the parliament stops working, the prime minister and the president of the republic take over. Such measures must be proportionate and precisely defined," GONG said.
More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
