What a difference three years make! Three years ago to the day, Croatia was completely different. Empty streets, soon-to-be-closed restaurants, hair salons, people drinking their last coffee in a cafe for some time to come. Croatia was on the eve of Covid-19 lockdown.

The first reported death from Covid-19 in Croatia was on this date, the 18th of March in 2020. And the first Covid-19 case in Dubrovnik was on the 19th of March 2020.

The headquarters met every day and published news related to the coronavirus. It was the day before the 30-day measures went into effect. "Since midnight, the decisions of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia have been in force in Croatia, which put into effect a whole series of measures aimed at preventing the spread of the infection," stated the announcement of the Directorate of Civil Protection.

Sports events, all public gatherings, work in catering establishments and shops except for food and pharmacies are prohibited, sports and recreation centres are suspended, and religious gatherings are suspended. Residents of Croatia also could not cross the border crossings. Lockdown came to the country.

And according the University of Oxford, as of 24 March, Croatia was the country with the world's strictest restrictions and measures for infection reduction in relation to the number of infected. On 19 March, the number of recorded cases surpassed 100. On 21 March, it surpassed 200. On 25 March, it surpassed 400.

And all of this in the aftermath of a terrible earthquake in the capital, Zagreb, that his on the 22nf of March 2020. The strongest to hit Zagreb in over 140 years.