As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 30th of March, 2020, the main hospital in Sisak, the Dr. Ivo Pedisic General Hospital, is the first in all of Croatia to use robots with UV lamps in the fight against coronavirus, which has recently proven to be a successful practice over in China, where the outbreak began.

Sisak-Moslavina County has bought the device for the hospital for half a million kuna (about 65,000 euros) from the Danish company UVD Robots.

According to the specifications, the robot can kill 99.999 percent of bacteria in the space it is in in a mere ten minutes, it also kills also viruses, including the coronavirus COVID-19. The UVD Robots machine moves at a speed of 5.4 km/h and can withstand two and a half hours of disinfection on one single charge. It looks like an autonomous smart vacuum cleaner, which is already on sale in Croatia, but has a stronger base and above it is a 171 centimetre vertical stand with UV-C (254 NM) UV lamps that illuminate the entire room.

If the lamps aren't switched on, then the robot has an autonomy of movement of eight hours. It takes three hours to recharge. Using UV-C light, the robot destroys DNA and RNA molecules, which are a key part of bacteria and viruses, and this process is successful for disinfecting surfaces in various spaces as well as for air disinfection.

The director of the Sisak General Hospital, Dr Tomislav Dujmenovic, told the Župan.hr portal that they had placed the robot in the infectology department after receiving the first case of coronavirus and were already actively using it in other hospital facilities.

"We placed it in the infectology department, so after the departure of a person infected with coronavirus, the robot thoroughly disinfects the space, after which the arrival of staff and every subsequent patient is safe," says Dr. Dujmenovic.

The Danish company Blue Ocean Robotics, which is a subsidiary of UVD Robots, received an award back in early March from one of the largest robotics associations in the Europen Union, euRobotics, for launching a public-private partnership in the field of robotics with the European Commission. The EC earmarked 700 million euros in incentives for robotics for the period between 2014 and 2020.

UV robots like the one developed by the aforementioned Danish company resulted in 77 percent bacteria reduction in intensive care units and 83 percent in operating rooms in a hospital in Taiwan in a recent test.

Back in mid-February, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan, the Chinese medical equipment distributor Sunay Healthcare Supply contracted a collaboration agreement with the Danish company UVD Robots. The plan is to sell robots manufactured in Denmark to more than 2,000 hospitals in China. The Danish company states that they currently have customers for their robots in more than 40 countries across Asia, Europe and the US.

It's worth mentioning that after the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, China began working on developing and manufacturing its own UV robots, and plans to use them even to disinfect public transport.

The World Health Organisation initially confirmed that UV lamps could destroy coronavirus, but then withdrew the statement and recommended that UV lamps not be used without the supervision of professionals. Namely, home and hobby use of UV lamps can lead to skin cancer and therefore no experimentation is recommended. Regular soap, they say, is just as good for coronavirus disinfection.

Follow our dedicated section for rolling information and updates in English on coronavirus in Croatia.

ZAGREB, March 30, 2020 - In 2019 a total of 515,400 tourists stayed in non-commercial accommodation facilities, that is holiday homes and apartments, which is 0.6% down from 2018, but there were 4.4% more overnights stays, or 13.1 million, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

Data from the DZS show that more than twice as many foreign as domestic tourists stayed in non-commercial accommodation facilities in 2019, or 376,000 foreign tourists compared with 140,000 domestic. However, there were less tourists from both categories compared to 2018 - the number of domestic tourists was down by 0.2%, and that of foreign by 0.4%.

The number of overnight stays rose in both categories for non-commercial accommodation facilities - foreign tourists generated 7 million overnight stays, or 4% more on the year, while domestic tourists generated 6.2 million overnight stays, an increase of 5.2%.

Tourists from Slovenia accounted for 47% of the overnight stays in non-commercial accommodation facilities, followed by those from Bosnia and Herzegovina with 12% and those from Germany with 9%.

Broken down by counties, Zadar County recorded the highest turnover in non-commercial accommodation with 145,000 tourists and 4.5 million overnight stays, followed by Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, which recorded 124,000 tourists and 3.6 million overnight stays. Istria County came third with 95,000 arrivals and 2 million overnight stays.

More tourism news can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, March 30, 2020 - Retail trade in Croatia in February 2020 compared with February 2019 was up 4.9% in real terms the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Monday.

DZS's report shows that retail trade increased both on the year and on the month.

According to DZS, total seasonally and working-day adjusted retail trade in February increased by 0.2% on the month in real terms whereas on the year it increased by 4.9% in real terms.

Real retail trade turnover has been growing since June 2019. In February this growth, however, was at a slower rate than in January 2020 when it increased by 6.2%.

In February 2020, as compared to the same month of the previous year, retail trade in food, beverages and tobacco increased by 9.9% and in non-food products (except of automotive fuels and lubricants) by 13.1%.

All trade branches realised a growth and the total gross trade turnover increased by 11.2% in nominal terms, as compared to February 2019.

The largest impact on that growth according to source indices were by non-specialised stores with food, beverages with a growth of 13.3%, followed by pharmacies, medical and orthopaedic products, cosmetics and toiletries with a growth of 19.6%.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

March 30, 2020 — The Croatian government’s proposal to track citizens’ locations during the coronavirus outbreak is taking shape. It would create a dedicated app or text messages for citizens ordered into isolation, according to one of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's closest advisors.

ational Security Advisor Robert Kopal said tracking measures could include using location data provided by telecommunications companies, applications installed onto devices, or sending text messages to those who’ve been ordered into isolation. Those who refuse monitoring could be forced into quarantine.

The measures Kopal described in an interview with N1 come as governments across Europe consider monitoring their citizens to slow the virus’s spread. But forcing Europeans to voluntarily install digital monitoring tools onto their devices may be a tough sell, especially after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) created a hullabaloo over data privacy.

The Croatian government's measure tries to skirt the line by targeting people directed into self-isolation and only tracking current location — not movement.

“There is no monitoring of location or movement, only for people who are in self-isolation,” Kopal said in the interview. “If they leave the perimeter, it is visible, nothing else.”

Kopal emphasized the focus on singular locations and not movement — a distinction meant to placate fears of a nanny state hoarding data and profiling citizens’ routines and encounters. It’s a sensitive issue for Croatians still wary of government overreach after life in the former Yugoslavia.

Kopal added the measures would be instated “only when the health and lives of citizens could not be effectively protected otherwise.”

The measure comes as civil society groups urge caution over the government’s current restrictions on freedom of movement, claiming cutbacks on freedoms must be proportional to the threat.

The proposed amendments to Croatia’s Telecommunications Act first must pass parliament, where it faces uncertainty. Social Democrats decry the measure, claiming it bypasses Constitutionally-prescribed procedures. 

The Croatian constitution allows personal freedoms to be curtailed in extreme circumstances such as war. The Parliament must enact these sorts of laws with a two-thirds majority vote, which some Social Dems argue applies to the government’s tracking ammendment.

The law may also run afoul of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Plenkovic’s government pointed to the urgency of the pandemic and claimed the GDPR allowed such a bill. 

“Passing this Act is part of measures aimed at enabling urgent and adequate treatment of all competent authorities in newly emerged special circumstances in relation to a declared COVID-19 disease epidemic and the need to protect the lives and human health through the use of the said data,” the amendment states.

Others have suggested Croatia’s constitutional court must provide guidance on the proposal’s feasibility. The Constitutional Court can weigh in on its own, at the request of a citizen, or at the request of those proposing the law, Kopal said. It can also put a freeze on the law’s implementation until its constitutionality is weighed.

The proposed tactics follow’s Taiwan’s, which reportedly uses a phone-based “fence” to keep at-risk residents in their homes with some success. Whether that'll translate to Europe remains uncertain. Poland’s rollout of a similar tracking application has been reportedly panned as buggy.

Croatia’s daily press briefings on the coronavirus’s spread include a count of how many Croats ignored orders to self isolate. The number often approaches the triple digits. Kopal said such behavior can only hurt long-term efforts to slow the virus’s spread.

“The fact remains that the Government, in the explanation of the amendments to the Act, clearly stated the need to enact it in these exceptional and extraordinary circumstances and pointed out the proportionality of restrictions (among other conditions) for the protection of human health, which is a basic constitutional requirement.” Kopal said.

ZAGREB, March 29, 2020 - In the current circumstances of a pandemic, which prevent cultural events from taking place, the Book Night 2020 event, which commemorates the International Book and Copyright Day as well as Croatian Book Day on 23 April, will be held online.

"In the midst of news about the coronavirus spread, we did not give up on the idea to organise Book Night, in line with the current circumstances and within the limits of what is responsible and possible," said the organisers.

This year's edition of the event will be marked by online programmes, including a virtual Book Night opening ceremony, where the results of the new annual survey of Croatian citizens' book buying and reading habits will be presented.

Media outlets are invited to dedicate a part of their content to books and the magic of their creation and reading on the eve of 23 April. "Regardless of the kind of content, be it interviews with authors, unknown and less-known events from the world of literature, book and author presentations, musical performances inspired by books, conversations with citizens of all generations on the future of books, their favourite books or book quotes and best-book lists - any mention of books is welcome," the organisers noted.

Programme applications can be submitted until 23 April via an online application form available on the Book Night website. All information on the ninth, virtual edition of Book Night will be published on the Book Night website and Facebook page.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 30, 2020- Grape farmers from the northern Croatian region of Međimurje will be able to cross the border into Hungary to tend to their vineyards there despite the border restrictions Hungary has introduced to fight the coronavirus epidemic, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday.

Szijjarto said that he and his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman had agreed on cross-border commuting in areas near the border, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI.

The Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Ministry did not respond to Hina's query about the agreement.

Szijjarto says that Croatian grape farmers from Međimurje recently contacted him about the border restrictions preventing them from crossing over to Hungary to farm their grapes.

"And if they do not finish the work now then there certainly won't be any harvest," he said on Facebook.

The Hungarian minister said that he had phoned his counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman and they quickly agreed to enable commuting over the border.

"The two police captains will work out the details and spring work can start," Szijjarto said.

More news about relations between Croatia and Hungary can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 30, 2020 - Croatia's gross external debt reached €41.1 billion at the end of November 2019, down by 1.6 billion or 3.8% compared with November 2018, but analysts predict a rise in external vulnerability caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Compared with October 2019, external debt - which includes the external debt of the general government, the central bank, other monetary and financial institutions and other domestic sectors as well as direct investment - fell by 4.5%.

In the debt structure, the largest share, of 41.3%, accounted for other sectors, i.e. companies that had started to generate positive annual growth rates after three years od deleveraging.

The gross external debt of the public sector was €15.3 billion, a decrease of 8% compared with the end of 2018. The largest portion of this amount, €12.9 million, was owed by the central government, although its debt had been reduced by 7.3%. This was due to the maturity of a $1.5 billion bond which reduced the government's external liabilities, analysts at Raiffeisen Bank (RBA) said.

Although the indicators for December will confirm a relative fall in external debt to 75.7% of GDP (by seven percentage points compared with the end of 2018), the new circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic will adversely affect relative external debt indicators already this year, RBA said.

It warned that a significant decline in economic activity, coupled with the high levels of external liabilities accumulated over the previous years, will lead to a deterioration in the country's external vulnerability.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of March, 2020, the financial markets are in constant turmoil, the level of uncertainty is extremely high, and all this will require very careful management of budget financing, the governor of the Croatian National Bank, Boris Vujcic, said.

''The Croatian National Bank (CNB) has taken a number of measures to maintain exchange rate stability, strengthen the financial system's liquidity and revive the government bond market. The main measures were promptly announced to the general public, with all the aims that were initially sought. In mid-March, we intervened four times on the foreign exchange market totalling €1.6 billion to stabilise it. That's what we've achieved, the exchange rate has now been stabilised. The second objective was to create additional, and partly longer-term, cheap liquidity. On regular and structural operations, we created 4.5 billion kuna of additional, mostly long-term liquidity for banks at a very low interest rate,'' said Boris Vujcic, according to a report from Vecernji list.

''We've placed the funds for banks for five years at an interest rate of 0.25 percent, and short-term loans are at an interest rate of 0.05 percent. Thirdly, since the additional liquidity created by banks didn't reach other financial institutions and threatened to freeze the government securities market, which would adversely affect the financing conditions of all domestic sectors, we intervened in regard to that market as well. The situation was such that when we announced our interventions, even the market for the highest quality German Government securities was under a huge amount of stress. At two auctions, we purchased 4.3 billion kuna in government bonds, which is the first time the CNB has acted in such a manner,'' Boris Vujcic went on to explain.

''Finally, given the need for additional funding from the state due to the package of measures released in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, we reduced the reserve requirement last week, freeing up an additional 10.5 billion kuna. These amounts cannot be added together because they're different measures. While foreign exchange interventions convert kuna liquidity into foreign currency, the bank financing operation and the redemption of bonds create additional kuna liquidity, and lowering the reserve requirement rate gives banks existing liquidity blocked by central bank monetary measures. However, all of these moves were complementary and were aimed at preserving favourable financing conditions for all bank clients despite the economic downturn and huge disruptions affecting global financial markets, all while maintaining exchange rate stability,'' Vujcic said, adding that government funding would could facilitate the expected increase in private savings that will ultimately require secure investments. On the other hand, financial markets are facing constant upheaval, uncertainty is extremely high, and this will all require very careful management of budget financing, the governor noted.

''We're entering a health crisis from a position of considerable surplus in the current and capital account, in other words, we've got higher exports than imports, and higher capital inflows than capital outflows. We've used this surplus in recent years to repay foreign currencies and strengthen our foreign exchange reserves, which is our first shock absorber in a situation where exports fall. Although funding conditions have tightened for emerging markets, including the Croatian market, borrowing is still possible. We'll only spend more on reserves if the coronavirus crisis escalates. If that does happen, it will be a sign that our foreign exchange reserves have served a purpose and that we've been able to maintain domestic demand. The CNB's gross reserves, even after the foreign exchange interventions that stabilised the exchange rate after the outbreak of the epidemic, are in excess of €17 billion,'' Boris Vujcic assured.

''The foreign exchange assets of banks needs to be added to that, which amount to approximately five and a half billion euros, and they can serve the same purpose as foreign currency reserves. Foreign exchange sold recently are mainly in the foreign exchange assets of banks and therefore haven't disappeared from the country's financial system,'' Boris Vujcic concluded.

For rolling information and updates in English on coronavirus in Croatia, follow our dedicated section. For more on the Croatian economy, follow our business page.