July 30, 2020 – The head of the National Civil Protection Headquarters and Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Wednesday that they were considering adopting new measures daily and called on event organizers to adhere to existing measures because that was the only way to decrease the number of cases.
“Every day, the Headquarters considers and takes into account all relevant data. We call on the organizers of events to adhere to the measures prescribed by the CNIPH; we call for responsibility,” said Bozinovic, as reported by Slobodna Dalmacija.
Commenting on President Milanovic’s repeated accusations that the National Headquarters is unconstitutional, Bozinovic reminded that the Headquarters was established in 2015, during the government of Prime Minister Milanovic.
“The only changes that have taken place are given this situation with the pandemic, which no one could have foreseen, neither then nor in 2019 when the law underwent certain amendments, and thus the headquarters was given the authority to make decisions related to the implementation of measures determined in cooperation with the CNIPH and the Ministry of Health, all under the supervision of the Government,” the Minister pointed out.
He added that they had spoken with Education Minister Radovan Fuchs about the start of the school year in the autumn.
“We have agreed that within the Ministry of Education, there will be a special working group that will propose, and in some way support, the epidemiological service, and which will itself have an expert epidemiologist, given the whole range of issues and situations that should be anticipated given the risk of spreading the virus in school institutions,” announced Bozinovic.
He added that there was no repression or tendency in the activities of the headquarters to diminish anyone’s rights.
“This is a body that deals, based on knowledge and epidemiological recommendations and science, with finding a balance to maintain these activities, so that the economy and tourism do not stop,” Bozinovic said.
He believes that the Parliament could not make a good decision, primarily due to lengthy debates, and change the same decision in less than 24 hours.
When asked by a journalist that the Association of Music Managers complained that they were unable to work and that they received a decision from only one county headquarters to allow gatherings of more than 1,000 people, the Minister said that there were already recommendations that cultural events and concerts could be organized in these circumstances, but with strict adherence to epidemiological measures.
“Some things are not possible in such epidemic conditions; concerts are not possible where a large number of people would gather as it used to be, and which would not maintain a physical distance between them. Concerts for 2020 and 2021 were practically canceled more or less throughout Europe, and in the USA until 2022. We must all find ways to organize ourselves in order for this activity to survive, and we can only do that through conversation, a rational approach,” Bozinovic emphasized.
Minister of Health Vili Beros said that he had signed a pre-agreement for a million and a half doses of vaccine and that we had not paid anything yet because the signed contracts and agreements only regulate the procurement of vaccines in the future, emphasizing that Croatia is part of the European Commission initiative.
He added that the EU Commission is considering the modality of financing and the possibility for funding from EU structural and investment funds.
The director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak, emphasized that the numbers in Croatia these days vary due to hotspots in Split-Dalmatia County and are related to new patients from weddings in Hrvace, and funerals in Imotski. In Vukovar-Srijem County, new patients are associated with a bachelor party in Cerna and a wedding that moved to Nasice.
He added that large numbers are associated with large gatherings and that this is the main source of infection at the moment. He confirmed that several people were infected at the Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs.
“In one organizational unit of the ministry, it is true that there are four sick people, none of the officials or close associates of Minister Grlic Radman is in self-isolation. Four sick people and several people from one organizational unit are in self-isolation,” Capak said.
Asked if the opposition was once again calling for his removal because of the case of HSLS president Dari Hrebak, Capak stressed that he did not think a mistake had been made in the case.
“Hrebak, before receiving the prescribed measure of self-isolation, requested a test at his own expense, and after that when he received a negative test, he asked for an interpretation. The epidemiological opinion I wrote states that he is non-infectious in the next 36-48 hours because of the negative swab. In medicine, situations are not black or white, and it would be very good to let epidemiologists decide whether someone needs self-isolation or not,” Capak concluded.
Ministers Beros and Bozinovic and Director Capak confirmed to reporters that they had installed a new application for monitoring infected “Stop COVID-19” on their mobile phones.
The Interior Minister and head of the National Civil Protection Headquarters also wrote several posts on Twitter after the press conference:
“From 0 to 24, the Headquarters monitors the situation and the epidemiological picture every day. This means quick decision-making and involvement of all departments that need to say something about it.
We are constantly trying to find a balance between economic activities and recommendations for curbing the epidemic and we are communicating all this with Croatian citizens. That is why Croatia is the champion of tourism in Europe.”
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