Unexploded bombs and other ordnance that have been found will soon go through the proper methods of safe destruction in the popular coastal Istrian city of Pula.

Whether they're from the Second World War or from the much more recent Homeland War, unexploded mines and other types of ordnance are still discovered all over the country, with many places, particularly in Lika, issuing public warnings about potential mines in forests, around mountains and in other more remote locations.

As Morski writes on the 2nd of February, 2020, the working group for demining activities of the Vallelunga Warehouse in Pula agreed on the need for, and the concrete steps that need to be taken to discover any unexploded ordnance from the Seond World War and safely remove them as soon as possible, and the action itself will begin on Tuesday, February the 4th this year.

This is a port area that was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia, and due to the complexity and the sheer extent of the procedure at hand, the rehabilitation of the aforementioned area will take place in stages.

During the first phase, the preparation of the area, which will be taken care of by a company called Viktor from the Istrian city Rovinj, will be carried out under the strict supervision of the Ministry of Interior's anti-explosion team. Upon completion of all of the necessary preparation of the area, it will be thoroughly inspected by MUP personnel using specialised machinery.

The removal of unexploded ordnance from the Second World War, which will be coordinated by the Port Authority of Pula and the Ministry of the Interior, will be carried out by professional and licensed personnel under very strict supervision and under maximum security conditions.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

Let's be completely honest, Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta) tends to have issues delivering from anywhere to anywhere, even within the borders of Croatia, let alone far beyond them. The company isn't best known for being particularly reliable.

Many people have waited weeks for a parcel or letter to be delivered from Karlovac to Dubrovnik, and many others have simply had their parcels ''go missing'' and letters vanish into thin air. That being said, it looks as if Croatian Post's services could improve and finally be dragged into the 21st century with the introduction of drones to deliver packages. But what about the worrying situation with coronavirus and China?

As Gordana Grgas/Novac writes on the 1st of February, 2020, Croatian Post informed its disgruntled users recently that there might be difficulties in delivering shipments from the People's Republic of China to the Republic of Croatia, and the reason appears to be related to the concerning coronavirus outbreak. Much has been written here in Croatia about the virus after a bus carrying 300 people from Wuhan itself, where coronavirus broke out, crossed the border at Bregana into Croatia, apparently without any issue at all.

To speak more specifically, Croatian Post stated that it received information from several airlines - KLM, Lufthansa LH and Turkish Airlines - that "to prevent the spread of coronavirus,'' flights from the People's Republic of China to the the Republic of Croatia will not continue to operate for the foreseeable future, until coronavirus is somehow brought under control.

According to a notice published on Croatian Post's website, the decision will affect normal postal services in the exchange of parcels between Croatia and China, so they ask the users of their services to understand. They will notify users of any changes in a timely manner, they state.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and lifestyle pages for much more.

A man has been quarantined at the Split KBC hospital as a precautionary measure while he is tested for the coronavirus. "The patient is isolated at the Infectious Diseases Clinic; but the coronavirus diagnosis has not yet been confirmed," the hospital reported to Dalmatinski portal on February 2, 2020. 

*UPDATE February 3, 2020 at 19:10 CET: Further coronavirus test results have confirmed the patient does not have the coronavirus.

Split Crisis Staff Doctors for the Prevention and Control of Infections held a press conference today February 3, 2020 at 13:00 CET regarding the case.The tests finding were sent to the Clinic for Infectology Fran Mihaljevic in Zagreb. They should know today whether his symptoms are due to a coronavirus infection or if they are caused by something else.  More information here. 

*DAILY UPDATES: Total Croatia News provides LIVE daily updates on the coronavirus epidemic here. An archive of articles can be found here.

Split Patent in Quarantine Awaiting Test Results

The diagnosis is not yet known, but given that he has recently been to China, he has been isolated as a preventive measure. All necessary examinations have been performed, and he will remain separate from the other patients until the results of the findings.

He is currently in the infectious ward in Split. In the event of a positive finding, he will be transferred to the Zagreb hospital Dr. Fran Mihaljević.

Osijek Patient Does Not Have Coronavirus

Subsequent coronavirus tests showed that the 26-year-old Đakovo resident hospitalized in Osijek KBC after returning from China did not contract the coronavirus, according to Index on February 2, 2020.

Alemka Markotić, Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic Fran Mihaljević, confirmed for the HRT Dnevnik that the tests on a patient in isolation in Osijek for suspected coronavirus showed that the patient did not suffer from the virus.

Test Findings Sent to Center in Berlin

"Yesterday and today we worked on testing blood and the upper respiratory tract. In one test, some of these samples were slightly positive and the other, which we consider to be affirmative, was completely negative both yesterday and today. We are obliged to send a sample for further confirmation to reference centers. The patient is not coughing and is in good general condition. He will probably be under some medical supervision unless the development of the disease is seen," said Markotić.

She confirmed that their clinic had received a test from Berlin three days ago. She explained that coronavirus is quite similar in behavior and molecular characteristics to SARS, but it also differs in many ways and is apparently spreading much faster. She said that it was difficult to distinguish symptoms from the flu, but that coronavirus complicates pneumonia, while that is not the case with flu.

Expects That Coronavirus Will Last Until Spring

Asked if she knew how long the epidemic would last, she replied that she did not know the answer to that question, adding that the virus was spreading by droplet and that it was expected that with the onset of spring the virus should disappear.

A 26-year-old Đakovo resident was hospitalized in Osijek KBC on Saturday on the tenth day after his return from China and he reported a temperature of 38 degrees, after which he was isolated. The rules of the profession dictate that every patient who comes from China must be treated in this manner and have respiratory problems or fever for two to ten days.

*DAILY UPDATES: Total Croatia News provides LIVE daily updates on the coronavirus epidemic here. An archive of articles can be found here.

Good news from Osijek: A patient who spent five days in quarantine at the Osijek Hospital in Croatia was not infected with the coronavirus.

*DAILY UPDATES: Total Croatia News provides LIVE daily updates on the coronavirus epidemic here. An archive of articles can be found here.

Young Croatia Man Arrived From Shanghai on January 20: Reported High Fever

The young man returned from Shanghai on January 20 and complained to doctors having a fever on Saturday. When findings for the initial tests turned out to be positive for the coronavirus, concern grew, according to Novi List on February 2, 2020.

The results of the latest tests performed by Osijek doctors showed that the 26-year-old Đakovo patient is not infected with coronavirus, according to HRT on February 2, 2020. This young man spent five days quarantined in a hospital in Osijek, because doctors suspected that he was infected with the dangerous virus that is causing concern around the whole world

At the moment, a third and final test is pending.

Patient's Temperature Rose to 38 Degrees Celsius: Isolated at Osijek Hospital For Tests

Ljiljana Perić, Head of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases at KBC Osijek informed the public during the afternoon about what was happening in the Osijek case:

"Ten days after returning from China, the patient's body temperature rose to 38 degrees Celsius and we responded according to our ostandard protocol. Our colleagues from family practice announced that they were sending him to the hospital where we received and isolated him. The patient is well, does not have temperature, is does not have any other problems. He is still isolated. Provided that the patient is well, we plan to release him home if the final test is negative," she explained.

*DAILY UPDATES: Total Croatia News provides LIVE daily updates on the coronavirus epidemic here. An archive of articles can be found here.

ZAGREB, February 2, 2020 - Croatia's President-elect Zoran Milanović says that Slovenia is Croatia's most natural ally and that the relations will go forward after the completion of the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

In his comment on Friday's judgement by the Luxembourg-based court on its non-jurisdiction over an action Slovenia brought against Croatia due to their border dispute, Milanović said in Rijeka on Saturday, that the for the sake of its general public, the Slovenian side had had to use all means at its disposal which it found logical when it came to the border dispute and Croatia's rejection to implement the 2017 border arbitration award.

The action brought by Slovenia did not succeed, as this matter really does not fall within the jurisdiction of the court in Luxembourg. Otherwise, it would have received similar actions from many countries, Milanović said, noting that there are still cases that the arrangements of border delimitation and demarcation between some EU member-states are not completed yet.

"Now, when these proceedings (initiated by Slovenia) are over, I can see only good relations and even better relations with Slovenia, because it is closest to us politically," the newly elected Croatian president said.

Asked whether the arbitration award could be the starting point for the talks, Milanović answered in the affirmative.

Asked by the press where he would first travel abroad after taking oath as the president, Milanović said that he still did not know. "There may be Slovenia, Austria. Those are possible variants, however, it is not necessary to be so," said Milanović in Rijeka where he was attending the opening ceremonies for inauguration of that coastal Croatian city as the European Capital of Culture in 2020.

He commended the day-long programme and ceremonies at which Rijeka took the title of one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2020. The other city is Galway, Ireland.

In response to reporters' questions why he had chosen Rijeka and those opening programmes for his first appearance at official events since his electoral victory, Milanović said that he did not make a choice, explaining "it happened to be so" due to the date of the events.

More news about Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 2, 2020 - A total of 1,155 people and 195 vessels were rescued in 612 search and rescue operations in the Croatian Adriatic last year, while 27 people were killed in accidents at sea, the Ministry of the Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure said in a statement.

The total number of rescue operations decreased by 8.5% compared with 2018. Medical emergencies accounted for 54% of all emergencies at sea, increasing by 8.8% to 223 such cases in 2019.

Eleven operations were undertaken to rescue divers and 22 to rescue windsurfers, and 19 swimmers were also rescued. Emergency services responded 56 times to help vessels with engine or steering system trouble; by comparison, they responded to 83 such cases in 2018.

Last year 27 people were killed and 29 injured in accidents at sea, while one person was declared missing. The number of deaths decreased by 20.6%, while the number of people rescued increased by 6.9%.

The ministry also reported 15 collisions, 55 vessels running aground, 23 vessels sinking, 40 considerably damaged and 8 partly or fully damaged by fire.

The ministry says that safety at sea has considerably improved in the past years as a result of increased investment in navigation safety, personnel training and equipment for crews and vessels. The increased presence of port authorities' vessels has also helped reduce the number of accidents. Analyses have found that boaters' disregard for weather alerts, lack of experience and inadequate equipment remain the most frequent causes of accidents at sea.

More transportation news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 2, 2020 - Almost 1,100 animals were adopted in 2019 from the Shelter for Abandoned Animals of the City of Zagreb, better known as Dumovec, just like in 2018, so that 844 dogs and 248 cats found their new home, the shelter said earlier this week.

Most animal adoptions, every fourth, take place on a Saturday.

"A lot of people come because they have seen a photo of a pet on our website, but when they arrive, they 'fall in love' with another one," says the shelter's manager Tatjana Zajec.

She says that they have been warning people for a long time that the pet's appearance is not something they should base their choice on. "A pet should be chosen according to a person's lifestyle. The person and a dog or a cat should 'click' and they should be suitable for each other in the long term," Zajec says.

The number of interventions in which the shelter's fieldwork staff assisted state and city services nearly doubled last year. There were 134 such interventions, with the team mostly helping veterinary inspectors and the police. The team had a total of 2,100 interventions. Besides pets, domestic and wild animals also needed help. Birds required the most interventions, 774 of them.

Wild animals are inspected and treated by the Zagreb Zoo, while the shelter's veterinary clinic takes care of cats and dogs. Its veterinarians performed about 10,000 examinations, vaccinations and surgical procedures.

"In its 19 years the shelter has become a place for the systematic care of abandoned animals. Our staff are on call 24 hours a day so that injured animals could receive the appropriate care even in the middle of the night. The current needs of abandoned animals in Zagreb exceed our capacities. We therefore hope that owners will become more responsible toward their pets and that we will be able to expand our dog and cat housing capacity as soon as possible," said Damir Skok, the director of Zagreb Zoo, which includes the Dumovec shelter.

More news about animals can be found in the Politics section.

February 2, 2020 - A large-scale opening program that took place on February 1, 2020, and lasted for 24 hours, marked a date on which the city of Rijeka officially took over the title of the European Capital of Culture,  as well as the actual start of perhaps the most important, and certainly the most interesting cultural year in the city’s history. 

From the early morning hours, the entire city was a single body, beating to the same beat. Opera Industriale marked the culmination of the evening in which Rijeka announced the values by which it will present itself to Europe, along with the as values it will convey to Europe. 

The all-day programme in Rijeka was attended by more than 30,000 people, of which 20,000 gathered on the piers and breakwater in Rijeka Port to watch the central programme, titled Opera Industriale. Freedom, Tolerance, Antifascism, and Love are but some of the messages that rounded up the central opening event. 

Petar Fabijan

Following Opera Industriale, the other programmes continued to the morning hours, in numerous clubs, cafes and concert venues. 

After yesterday, nothing will ever be the same as before. This was a day in which Rijeka clearly demonstrated why it became the European Capital of Culture.

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