Dubrovnik is in coronavirus lockdown. It is a strange sight. The historic city core of Dubrovnik is almost completely empty with only the swallows and streets cats left to enjoy the ancient façades.

These photos were sent to us and clearly show that the message of #stayathome is working.

Check out the photo gallery of the Old City of Dubrovnik is coronavirus isolation

Will it finally come to an end at the beginning of June? Should we listen to Trump and get ready for an Easter together? Or the voices of doom that can’t see any light on the horizon before Christmas? Trying to follow the news, especially filtering out some kind of end date for coronavirus is like swimming in treacle. The date swings from wildly optimistic to we’re all going to die. Although clearly some people are immune (sorry about the pun) to the virus and its affects.

Just this morning I received an email from a reader of The Dubrovnik Times in England. His question shocked me. “Good morning! I have a holiday booked on the 18th of April to come over to Dubrovnik. I hear the airport is shut, is this true?” read the first message. I really didn’t know how to answer. In two weeks’ time this English tourist thought he would be strolling along the Stradun, sipping coffee in Gradska Kavana and squeezing into a packed cable car. I answered “The airport is closed but will open again on the 14th of April. But we are in total shutdown. If you come, you’ll be in quarantine for two weeks.” I hoped he would get the message. His reply “Ok thanks for the reply. The reason I am coming is to visit the Game of Thrones scenes, I take it that is all closed?” He was planning to fly with EasyJet, who had just the day before announced that they had grounded their whole fleet. I noticed the EasyJet news because it was squeezed between two strange headlines on the BBC – Drink vodka to poison the virus says Belarus President – and my favourite - A man teaching his dog to drive was arrested after high speed chase.

So how are you enjoying your lockdown? With all the people at home and cooking more and more I saw a comment the other day that made me laugh – we are currently all in an episode of Master Chef and when it ends we’ll all need to go on The Biggest Loser. Eating sleeping, eating and sleeping. A friend said to me the other day, “I’ve eaten six times and slept four times and it is still today.”

Just the other night my wife and I were watching TV, this was before the clocks went forward, in the evening and agreed to go to bed and watch TV there, it was around 8.00pm. Of course as our heads hit the pillows we fell asleep immediately. At one point I awoke. The curtains were slightly open and what appeared like a dawn light was shining through the windows. I heard my wife stir from her asleep. “Are you awake?” I asked. Which is always a dumb question to ask because if they are asleep they can’t answer. “Yes, just” she whispered. “What time is it?” she asked. “I guess around 4 or 5” I answered, judging by the light. We both agreed to stay in bed for another hour and then get up.

We both felt refreshed from our long night’s sleep. “But what time is it really?” my wife asked. I fumbled in the half-light for my mobile. “Oh my God! I don’t believe it,” I screamed. “What’s wrong?” came her startled reply. “It isn’t 4 o’clock or even 5 o’clock…it isn’t even tomorrow…it’s bloody 9.50!!” I couldn’t believe it. We had gone to bed and woken up in the same day feeling refreshed and ready to go. I would have probably started making breakfast and my wife cooking the coffee if I hadn’t looked at my mobile. The dawn like brightness from outside was actually dusk of the same bloody day! Unbelievable.

Self-quarantine, or as my niece calls it “a holiday at home,” is causing havoc with our sleep patterns. Whether it is over in 2 months or 2 years we are going to need to seriously change our sleep patterns. So enjoy your hibernation and see you all for a coffee on the Stradun soon…when, no one knows.

In order to test as many people in the country as possible the first drive-through coronavirus testing in Zagreb has opened this week. The Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health based in northern Zagreb has introduced the first ever drive-in testing in Croatia with the aim of speeding up the health care system's diagnostics capacity.

"A higher rate of testing is the best method for early diagnostics and the prevention of the spread of the coronavirus, so the new way of testing at the institute, where people can drive up to the building and get tested without leaving their car, will contribute to the efforts to identify infected people as quickly as possible,” stated the Institute this week.

The drive-through testing process will mean that people will be able to give samples, through a nasal swab without having to leave their cars, the test results take on average three hours to complete. The institute added that the drive-in testing will be performed for patients referred by general practitioners, i.e. the service will not be open to the public.

The Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic "Dr. Fran Mihaljevic," dr. Alemka Markotic, commented on RTL Television on what we can expect in the coming weeks regarding coronaviruses and how long it will take for the infections to start falling.

“We expect that in a few regions where the virus has not been widely reported, if kept under control for the next three weeks, we could reach that plateau and even begin to fall. It also depends on the virus, but I believe that all these measures have so far proved to be good and that this is the way to go,” she commented.

Dr. Alemka Markotic at the daily press conference of the Civil Prtoection Directorate 

She also commented on why Croatia is one of the more successful countries in the fight against coronaviruses and how the country has been so successful in combating the spread of coronavirus when compared with other countries. “I would not comment on whether someone is doing wrong, it would take a couple of hours to analyse someone else's measures to see where the mistakes were made. What we did well was that as soon as the diagnostic test appeared we introduced it, we started testing early,” added Markotic. She added “For 27 days, we tested and there were no patients; we identified the first patients immediately; epidemiologists marked their contacts. We were quickly focused on discovering new cases and isolating contact.”

And there can be no doubt that Croatia and the Croatian authorities have been quick off the mark and indeed resolute and determined to combat the spread of COVID-19. Whilst other countries have dithered and waited before introducing strict quarantine measures, Croatia acted immediately and resolutely. This can, to a certain extent, be confirmed by the figures and data. However, when you bear in mind that the main epicentre in Europe for weeks was northern Italy, and are aware of that regions geographical closeness to Croatia, then the job of closing down the country and halting the spread is even more impressive.

“I have to admit I feel much safer here in Zagreb than I would in the UK at the moment. The authorities have done an excellent job and have closed down the country early,” commented a British ex-pat to the Dubrovnik Times. He added that “When I saw people drinking in pubs and public transport running I was screaming at the TV just close them down. I was speaking to a friend in London who told me that as the pubs were closing at midnight he was going out with a large group of friends to get drunk and celebrate the last night of pubs being open. That approach kind of defeats the object,” added the Zagreb ex-pat.

And the data shows that the strict approach taken by Croatia is working. The country has just over 1,000 cases and only eight deaths. To put these figures into perspective, due to the size of populations, a better judgement is the number of cases per 1 million inhabitants. Here we can see that Croatia has 264.7 cases, whilst Italy has 1,989.05 and Spain 2,530.74. The USA has 842.01, the UK 582.37 and Germany 1,105.95. Interestingly the Chinese ultra-strict approach of basically putting whole cities under house arrest has meant that their cases per million is as low as 58.23.

“We were fortunate that the virus did not enter through health care institutions as happened in Slovenia and Italy. We introduced reasonable and gradual measures, not abrupt but deliberate, expert and reasonable. We have accumulated experience, I think it is a matter of approach of rational introduction of measures,” concluded Markotic.

One step that certainly worked was the early introduction of the Civil Protection Directorate. Early in the coronavirus pandemic the Prime Minister and the President, who have been signing off the same hymn sheet even though they are from opposing political parties, made a conscious and deliberate decision to hand over all power to the Civil Protection Directorate. It is this body, which also includes Dr. Alemka Markotic, that set the regulations, hold all the press conferences, answer all questions and give all recommendations. The leading politicians in the country basically lifted their hands and said we will leave it to the experts, whatever they advise is the law. Quite clearly a massive positive step that has clearly worked. No mixed messages, no campaign rallying, just a clear and unified message from people whose job it is to do this.

“It is reasonable for me to know that I, too, can become infected, but it is our and your job to help others. It's my job to be a doctor, now I'm more in the organization, my colleagues are with patients, but I hope that I will be with patients soon. Journalists are doing a great job and I congratulate you on your professionalism. The influence of the media is one of the reasons we are successful because you have clearly communicated information to the population and help spread the message of stay at home,” concluded Markotic.

Every media outlet in Croatia, from radio, television, newspaper and internet sites, were asked by the government to clearly display the message #stayathome as much as possible. Just one of the measures that the Civil Protection Directorate took, another example of joined-up thinking when it is most needed.

The streets of the ancient Old City of Dubrovnik echo to the sounds of footsteps, Dubrovnik is in total coronavirus lockdown.

The flapping wings of a pigeon break the sound of silence as it swoops over an empty square, a square that a few weeks ago was alive with the music of a green market. The first swallows of the year dart over the vacant cobbled streets catching flies and the attention of the sunbathing street cats. The cats in turn seem confused as to why, and indeed how, they are now the masters of the city. Dubrovnik is, to all intense purposes, a ghost town. You half expect to see a tumbleweed rolling down the Stradun.

A local, draped in a face mask and gloves, scurries home from the supermarket carrying bread, flour and a bottle of wine. The wine is probably the most required item in his shopping bag in these home isolation days.

Easter is on the doorstep, the sun pours down and in any normal year the tourists, as the swallows, would be returning in their droves. But this is far from being a normal year. The City of Dubrovnik’s over-tourism project “Respect the City” has changed overnight to “Protect the City.” There is no need, and probably won’t be for some time yet, to organise the flow of cruise ship passengers or employ extra staff to conduct the traffic. There are no selfie sticks, no children clinging to ice-creams and no brave swimmers easing themselves into the fresh Adriatic.

Pavement cafes remain hushed, the kaleidoscope of colourful tables and chairs replaced by grass growing in between the stone paving blocks. And as the sun sets and the evening darkness draws in the half glow of reduced street lightning, a further budget saving measure, casts spooky silhouettes on the stone façades.

Check out a video sent to us of the Old City of Dubrovnik in quarantine lockdown

“As of yesterday, we have seven new cases of coronavirus infection. There are 50 infected people in our county, which shows that there is no room for any relaxation. Citizens are still expected to adhere to all the prescribed measures, since every relaxation means more sick people,” commented the Prefect of the Dubrovnik-Neretva, NIkola Dobroslavic, at the daily press conference of the County Headquarters of Civil Protection.

The director of the County Institute of Public Health, Dr Mato Lakic, said that the new coronavirus cases were from two separate families. “I think they are from Konavle and Dubrovnik,” said Lakic. Adding that the focal points of contagion are Konavle, Dubrovnik, but also Župa Dubrovacka, among other things, due to family connections.

County Chief of Staff, Josko Cebalo, reported that 501 samples have been sent to Zagreb so far, and the results of 67 more tests are expected. “Yesterday we had two cases of violation of self-isolation in Dubrovnik. I urge everyone to stick to the measure. We have also had a significant number of calls from fellow citizens that indicate that there is a noticeable number of people in public areas, on walks or in parks,” concluded Cebalo.

#STAYATHOME 

In the last 24 hours in Croatia 68 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed bringing the overall number to 1,079. The Minister of Health, Vili Beros, confirmed that unfortunately another patient has passed away, bringing the coronavirus death toll in Croatia to eight. The latest victim of the virus was born in 1935 and had been previously unwell.

There are currently 39 patients on respirators, four more than yesterday and on a positive note 92 people have made a full recovery, which again is four more than yesterday.

On a global scale the number of people infected with COVID-19 has topped 1 million with the USA having by far the highest number of confirmed cases with over 245,000. Italy still has the most number of deaths from coronavirus with a staggering 13,915 deaths, followed by Spain with 10,935. As of today 54,137 people have lost their lives due to coronavirus.

Food prices plummeted in March on world markets, hit by a sharply reduced demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse of oil prices, the United Nations Food Agency (FAO) said on Thursday. In March, the FAO's basket of basic food prices fell 4.3 percent from the previous month to an average of 172.2 points.

"The main reasons for the fall in prices are the factors on the demand side, not the supply side," stressed the FAO leader Abdolrez Abbassian. "Demand is dwindling with the downturn in the economy," he explained.

The largest drop in the index was recorded by sugar prices, as much as 19.1 percent compared to February, due to the fall in consumption associated with the spread of the virus in many countries. An additional reason was the lower demand from ethanol producers due to the sinking of crude oil prices.

The vegetable oil price index sank 12 percent, reflecting a sharp fall in palm oil prices, linked to a fall in the price of unrefined mineral oils and heightened uncertainty over the impact of the epidemic on the market.

"Oil prices have more than halved in the past month, significantly affecting biofuels, an important source of demand in the sugar and vegetable oil markets," explains FAO analyst Peter Thoenes.