COVID-19 Notifications

Health and safety protocols

1. Passenger transport organized by the travel agency
Following refer to the implementation of measures during passenger excursions organized by the travel agency during the corona virus epidemic in order to protect the crew and passengers, and with vehicle occupancy adhering to the 1.5 m physical distancing measure.

1.1. Transport of passengers by buses, passenger cars or vans

Visible notices. A notice on the obligation to adhere to physical distancing (every other seat should remain unoccupied, passengers should sit diagonally behind each other – zig-zag), wearing face masks and hand disinfectant must be placed at the entrance to the means of transport. The agency is obliged to warn passengers before departure that they are obligated to have their own masks, gloves and disinfectants, but must also be able to provide them to the passengers if they haven’t brought them. The agency is obligated to provide face masks and gloves to its employees.

Hand hygiene. Whenever possible wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds while traveling, and when this is not possible, use disinfectants containing 70% alcohol or other hand disinfectant with proven virucidal effect. Hands have to be washed prior to entering the vehicle, after leaving the vehicle, after cleaning the vehicle or when the hands are visibly dirty, as well as in all other recommended situations (after going to the toilet, before eating, before and after touching your face, and similar). A disinfectant must be available at the entrance to the vehicle, and hands have to be disinfected when entering the bus (staff and passengers).

Driver seat hygiene. Maintain the cleanliness of the driver’s cab and your work environment – the cab by wiping down the surfaces daily, preferably several times a day, with a surface disinfectant. Especially take care to wipe down surfaces which are frequently touched, such as door handles, the wheel, dashboard and similar.

Driving with a face mask. If the face mask is not preventing the driver from safely operating the vehicle, it is recommended that he should wear a face mask while driving. The face mask should be changed regularly, and especially when it becomes damp and wet. The hands should be washed with warm water and soap, or disinfected, before and after removing the face mask. Used disposable masks are placed in garbage bags which are placed in lidded bins.

Hygiene and air conditioning units, heating and ventilation units. The interior of a means of
transport must be regularly cleaned and disinfected after each trip, during which special attention must be given to the passengers’ head and arm rests, door grab handles and windows. Passenger space must be regularly ventilated while staying at rest stops. The use of air conditioning units and heating should be avoided. The general recommendation is to ventilate closed spaces by opening windows, and refrain from using ventilation systems. When using ventilation systems, special attention should be given to the state of the filters and maintaining the correct ratio of indoor air exchange rate. The proper functioning of the ventilation and air exchange equipment has to be checked. It is recommended to use ventilation with increased percentage of external air which circulates into the system, and to not use re-circulation mode in order to encourage the exchange of air which reduces the concentration of potentially infectious particles.

Contact with passengers. It is necessary to maintain a physical distance of 1.5 m in everyday social contact with passengers and other people. If the drivers are placing the luggage in the luggage compartment, it is necessary that they disinfect their hands afterwards.

1.2. Boat cruises

Visible notices. It is necessary to place a notice on the obligation of maintaining physical distance, to wear face masks in the indoor areas of the tourist ship and disinfect hands when boarding. The agency is obliged to warn passengers before departure that they are obligated to have their own face masks, gloves and disinfectants, but also to provide them if the passengers haven’t brought them. The agency is obligated to  provide face masks and gloves to its employees.

Hand hygiene. Whenever possible wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds while traveling, and when this is not possible, use disinfectants containing 70% alcohol or other hand disinfectant with proven virucidal effect. Hands have to be washed before coming aboard, after disembarking, after cleaning the ship or when the hands are visibly dirty, and in all other recommended situations (after going to the toilet, before eating, before and after touching your face and similar). The disinfectant must be readily available at the ship’s
entrance, and hand disinfection is necessary during boarding (staff and passengers).

Hygiene and air conditioning units, heating and ventilation units. The interior of a means of
transport must be regularly cleaned and disinfected after each trip, during which special attention must be given to the passengers’ head and arm rests, door grab handles and windows. Passenger space must be regularly ventilated while idling at rest stops. The use of air conditioning units and heating should be avoided. The general recommendation is to ventilate closed spaces by opening windows, and refrain from using ventilation systems. When using ventilation systems, special attention should be given to the state of the filters and maintaining the correct condition of the air exchange rate indoors. The proper functioning of the ventilation and air exchange equipment must be checked. It is recommended to use ventilation with increased percentage of external air which circulates into the system, and to not use recirculation mode in order to encourage the exchange of air which reduces the concentration of potentially infectious particles.

Contact with passengers. It is necessary to maintain a physical distance of 1.5 m in everyday social contact with passengers and other people. If the drivers are placing the luggage in the luggage compartment, it is necessary that they disinfect their hands afterwards.

2. Tour managers and guides

Health monitoring by daily body temperature measurements. Before starting work, all employees will measure their body temperature during the morning hours and will not start work if it is higher than 37.2 C and/or if they have respiratory problems. In the event of elevated body temperature and/or respiratory problems, with or without elevated body temperature, the employees will call their employer and competent family physician, and will not start work until the cause of the respiratory problems and/or elevated body
temperature is ascertained.

Contact with clients. While interacting with passengers and other employees, it is necessary to maintain an appropriate physical distance of 1.5 m and use a face mask which covers the nose and mouth. Disinfectants should be available to tour managers/guides with which they will disinfect their hands regularly.

Maintaining audio equipment. The tour manager/guide is responsible for the collection, cleaning and disinfection of wireless audio sets before and after every use.

3. Procedure in the event of a guest contracting a disease while staying in tourist accommodation facility during COVID-19 pandemic

3.1. When raising suspicion that an accommodation facility visitor has contracted the COVID-19 infectious disease, the following applies:

• The responsible person in the accommodation facility, or the person whom he authorized, notifies the physician in the contracted outpatient clinic or the physician in the tourist outpatient clinic (hereinafter as competent physician) about the guest’s disease so that the he can be examined.
• If during the first contact the competent physician suspects that the person has contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the accommodation facility’s responsible person must ask the guest to remain at the accommodation facility and keep his doors closed, he must also provide the sick guest with a sufficient quantity of medical (surgical) masks and paper towels and instruct the guest to not leave his room until his medical examination (the physician will either make a house call or the sick guest will be transported to the physician’s office).
• The competent physician will examine the patient and establish whether the suspicion criteria for the occurrence of COVID-19 have been met and, dependent on the clinical condition of the guest, establishes if an epidemiologist should be called.
• If there is suspicion of COVID-19, a swab is taken in order to diagnose the COVID-19 infection in a timely manner, and the sick guest and the people with whom he came into close contact are isolated in the accommodation units until the test results come back.
• The accommodation facility employees, i.e. accommodation service provides, do not enter the room where the person suspected of having COVID-19 is residing, which also includes rooms of his close contacts, and the guests are notified that the rooms will not be cleaned and linens replaced at usual intervals and in the usual manner. Such guests must maintain the cleanliness of the room/area in which they are staying by using products which the accommodation facility will provide. Meals will be delivered to the room, and guests who do not have a half board or full board accommodation will buy (order) their meals from the accommodation facility’s restaurant, this is done in order to control the entry and exit from the accommodation facility (room), and their meals will be left in front of their room/apartment door. In smaller or apartment accommodation facilities, the owner or the person responsible for the accommodation will organize the delivery of food and other supplies for the guest, which will be left at the door to their room, and will keep in touch with the competent health care service.
• If there is a need to contact the sick guest while waiting for the results of the COVID-19 test to come back, a single person will be designated to deal with that guest, during which they will have to wear a medical mask and protective gloves and maintain a physical distance from the patient.
• Medical masks, gloves and similar protective equipment must be discarded immediately after use into a lidded waste bin which has been lined with two plastic waste bags. After discarding the protective equipment, the employees should wash their hands with soap and water or disinfect them.
• Guests who are part of the same group or same family also must remain in their rooms until contact is made with the competent physician and until the test results come back; in the event that the physician suspects that a COVID-19 infection has occurred.
• If the physician ascertains that the guest is not infected with COVID-19, he will prescribe a therapy for his condition, the self-isolation will be terminated for the guest and his close contacts, and the guest will be able move freely through the accommodation facility as far as his health and the protection of the health of other guests of the tourist facility allows.

3.2. In the event that it is confirmed that the guest has contracted the COVID-19 infectious disease, the following applies:

• A guest who has been diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease, and whose health condition warrants hospitalization, is transported to a health care facility in accordance with the physician’s instructions and, depending on the severity of the disease, by using a personal vehicle, organized transport or by ambulance. Emergency medical services are called in the event that severe, life-threatening symptoms suddenly occur. The use of public transport is NOT ALLOWED.
• Foreign guest diagnosed with COVID-19, whose health condition does not warrant hospitalization, and a domestic guest diagnosed with COVID-19, who does not have the required conditions to isolate at home, should be placed in an organized isolation accommodation which has been envisaged for such a purpose by the local self-government in such a way that the guests are moved into a preprepared facility which is suitable for isolation (facilities designated and equipped by the local Crisis Headquarters or the local self-government may include apartments, houses, mobile homes, dormitories, etc.), which falls under the purview of the physician competent for the accommodation facility (in consultation with the competent epidemiologist). The same also applies for guests who are close contacts of the sufferer, and for whom it is deemed necessary to organize a quarantine/self-isolation.
• Foreign guests diagnosed with COVID-19 and foreign guests who are close contacts of a COVID-19 sufferer may return to their countries before the expiry of the sufferer’s isolation period, i.e. quarantine/self-isolation for healthy close contacts, after consulting with the public health authorities of their country of origin through the IHR system (International Health Regulations) and agreeing on the funding and manner of transport back to their home countries.
• The termination of isolation and the health condition falls under the purview of the physician who prescribed the isolation or quarantine/self-isolation measure.