ZAGREB, November 22, 2020 - The National Civil Protection Headquarters announced new measures for the whole of Croatia, which has taken effect on Sunday (November 22). The necessary epidemiological measures imposed are:
- ban on all public events and gatherings attended by more than 25 people in one place;
- sports competitions can only be held without spectators and with strict adherence to all prescribed epidemiological measures, special recommendations and instructions of the Croatian Institute of Public Health. Organizers are also obliged to ensure that all competitors and necessary technical staff adhere to prescribed epidemiological measures;
- public events, gatherings and ceremonies of all kinds can only last up to 22.00 hours
Varazdin, a town in northern Croatia on Saturday, for the fifth day in a row, remained the largest corona center in Europe. With an average of about 300 new infections per day and a seven-day incidence of 973 cases per 100,000 population, the stringent measures should come as no surprise. Footballers from Varaždin, a senior team competing in the First League, despite the strict measures introduced by the County Civil Protection Headquarters in their area, will still be able to train on their fields and continue to play championship matches without spectators, but only the senior team!
Rovinj, the first city in Croatia to postpone all sports competitions
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - Following the recommendation of the Sports Association, Rovinj has become the first city in Croatia to postpone all sports competitions for two weeks, until November 15, in order to contribute to the improvement of the current epidemiological situation.
"Due to the situation in the basketball and football clubs, whose players were in self-isolation, we saw that the situation got out of control and we convened an extraordinary session of the Executive Board where a decision was made to suspend all competitions of Rovinj clubs for 15 days. Trainings will be held regularly.
This was also supported by the Mayor of Rovinj, Marko Paliaga, and he issued a conclusion in support of the mentioned decision. He recalled that 'it is enough for one player to be positive or to have noticed symptoms, so that then the whole club has to go into self-isolation'."
Croatian government bans spectators at sports competitions
October 26, 2020 - The Croatian government, together with the National Institute for Public Health, has decided to ban spectators at all sports competitions from today (Monday, October 26th). Too many new coronavirus cases and an increased pressure on hospitals led to this measure over the next 14 days. As many as three out of five matches scheduled for the ninth round of the Croatian First Football League were postponed due to the illness of several players in different clubs. The basketball league is suffering a similar fate.
In September in Croatia, the average number of patients with Covid-19 was between 100 and 200 people per day. With the arrival of the cold weather, the numbers have risen to between 800 and 1,500 a day. Hence, the National Institute for Public Health introduced mandatory wearing of masks in closed facilities, including restaurants and bars, unless one is sitting. At the same time, the working hours of restaurants and clubs have been shortened, and the number of people reduced as well. The same is the case with the number of people at weddings, funerals and other gatherings.
Journalists, who can, work from home. Others are listening to the decision about the number of journalists in the press seats, and it is not unified, since these positions are different from city to city, as is the different epidemiological situation in each Croatian county, so it depends on the assessments of experts for each event.
The Prime Minister announced very optimistic measures for employers in the event that employees are forced to work from home, in which the state pays part of the salary for the workers, and this also applies to journalists, but only permanent employees. Those who work as freelancers will wait some more time and see what their destiny is. New Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media is preparing the solution, as we were informed.
