THE ROLE OF THE EMERGENCY HEADQUARTERS OF THE CITY OF К RALJEVO IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Summary: The article deals with a detailed analysis of measures taken in the territory of the city of Kraljevo during the state of emergency in the Republic of Serbia (March 15-May 6, 2020) caused by the epidemic of COVID-19 virus, as well as the achieved results. The greatest success was achieved in the field of prevention, where the City Emergency Headquarters played the crucial role by focusing on the Plan for Prevention and Treatment in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics , adopted at the City Council session held on March 26, 2020. This is the first document concerning prevention and treatment from infection with the COVID-19 virus, which was adopted by a local self-government unit in Serbia. In addition to the basic ones, the activities of the City Headquarters are also re-searched in two special dimensions: 1) vertical, which concerns the coordination of activities with the competent republic institutions; 2) horizontal, which refers to professional and material assistance to other local self-government units through the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities. The author concludes that several interrelated factors were of crucial importance in the prevention and reduction of the possibility of contracting the COVID-19 virus in the territory of the city of Kraljevo: 1) the document Plan for Prevention and Treatment in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics ; as a type of legal basis for the functioning of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations 2) the work method of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations, which timely and strategically directed the activities of all entities involved in the prevention of the spread of the virus; 3) coordination of activities of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations with republic institutions and harmonization of actions with measures of the Government of the Republic of Serbia; 4) consistent and continuous work of the The Emergency Situations City Headquarters on the maximum engage-–


THE ROLE OF THE EMERGENCY HEADQUARTERS OF THE CITY OF КRALJEVO IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Summary: The article deals with a detailed analysis of measures taken in the territory of the city of Kraljevo during the state of emergency in the Republic of Serbia (March 15-May 6, 2020) caused by the epidemic of COVID-19 virus, as well as the achieved results.The greatest success was achieved in the field of prevention, where the City Emergency Headquarters played the crucial role by focusing on the Plan for Prevention and Treatment in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics, adopted at the City Council session held on March 26, 2020.This is the first document concerning prevention and treatment from infection with the COVID-19 virus, which was adopted by a local self-government unit in Serbia.In addition to the basic ones, the activities of the City Headquarters are also researched in two special dimensions: 1) vertical, which concerns the coordination of activities with the competent republic institutions; 2) horizontal, which refers to professional and material assistance to other local self-government units through the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.The author concludes that several interrelated factors were of crucial importance in the prevention and reduction of the possibility of contracting the COVID-19 virus in the territory of the city of Kraljevo: 1) the document Plan for Prevention and Treatment in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics; as a type of legal basis for the functioning of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations 2) the work method of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations, which timely and strategically directed the activities of all entities involved in the prevention of the spread of the virus; 3) coordination of activities of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations with republic institutions and harmonization of actions with measures of the Government of the Republic of Serbia; 4) consistent and continuous work of the The Emergency Situations City Headquarters on the maximum engage------------- * predragterzic@yahoo.com

Introduction
In the first quarter of 2020, the Republic of Serbia faced the epidemic of the COVID-19 virus, which appeared as a wave of a global pandemic, covering the territories of a large number of countries."Although at the beginning of 2020, it was believed that the disease caused by the COVID-19 virus would be just another in a series of transient epidemics, that was not the case.Namely, this epidemic is unique in its manifestation, bearing in mind that it caused first the partial, and then the complete inertia of the global world" (Banović, Stekić 2020, 86).The new situation, which required a quick response from the state authorities, put to the test the readiness of the republic institutions and the institutions of local self-government units, in order to fight the epidemic with joint capacities.
In this research, I analyze the activities of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations of the City of Kraljevo during the state of emergency on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, i.e. in the period from March 15 to May 6, 2020.Considering the number of infected citizens in a certain territory, Kraljevo belongs to those local self-governments in which during the state of emergency there was a very small degree of infection in relation to the number of citizens.
This was due to the existence of a planning document for Prevention and Treatment during the epidemic-pandemic, the activities of the Emergency Situations Headquarters, coordination with the Department of Civil Protection, the Sector for Emergency Situations, the Public Health Institute Kraljevo, the Veterinary Specialist Institute Kraljevo, General Hospital "Studenica", Health Center Kraljevo, Red Cross, Regional Chamber of Commerce of Raska and Moravica administrative districts, School Administration, Police Administration, The Second Infantry Brigade, public companies, founded by local government (Public Enterprise Company for Building Land, Public Utility Company "Čistoća", Public Utility Company "Vodovod"), civil protection units, voluntary fire brigades and other entities in order to implement prevention measures and other activities important to reduce the possibility of infecting the population in the city of Kraljevo.Thus, within the Emergency Situations Headquarters, a "symbiosis between experts, politicians and representatives of the bodies of control and coercion" arose (Jović 2020, 475).

Introduction of a state of emergency in the Republic of Serbia
"The first information about the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease did not indicate that it would be a factor that would push the whole world into unprecedented chaos" (Bjelajac, Filipović 2020, 11).However, in a very short period of time, the coronavirus has been registered in a large number of countries, on all continents.At the time of the introduction of the state of emergency in the Republic of Serbia, 48 infected persons were registered, without a single death (Government of the Republic of Serbia 2020).The virus was registered in 142 countries worldwide, infecting more than 156 thousand people.March 15, 2020).According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Europe was the epicenter of the global pandemic (BBC in Serbian on March 13, 2020).
"The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has caused terrible global consequences, and not just when human lives are concerned.There has been a spread of global fear, the collapse of economies, the creation of crises, as well as a reexamination of the way in which the entire global society functions" (Đurić, Stojadinović 2020, 121).Although there have been major changes in the areas of economy, international and domestic politics, travel patterns and everyday life habits, this is not the first time the world has faced the threat of infection."The vulnerability of an individual and his family to illness or premature death, the vulnerability of the community to famine and infection was greater in the Middle Ages than it is today" (Bek 2011, 18).
A state of emergency, caused by the epidemic of the COVID-19 virus, was declared on the territory of the whole of Serbia on March 15, 2020.The state leadership followed the example of other European countries, which one after another introduced a state of emergency or applied appropriate restrictive measures in the fight against the already globally present epidemic of the COVID-19 virus.
"The security of each state is based on elements of its national power, which are primarily: territory size, economic strength, geographical position, raw materials, dependence on foreign markets, technical and technological capacity, national character, government efficiency to implement decisions, production power, reserves, educational level of the population, national morality and internal solidarity"(Gaćinović 2013, 13).In addition to the efficiency of the government when it comes to the implementation of decisions, the security of the state is also affected by the determination of state bodies to face security and health risks.The determination of the state leadership to oppose the epidemic by all available means is most accurately illustrated by the words of the President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, delivered at the Palace of Serbia on March 15, 2020, during the announcement of the Decision on the declaration of the State of Emergency: "Surrender is not an option, it has never been and will never be an option for Serbia" (Government of the Republic of Serbia 2020).
During the introduction of the state of emergency and throughout it, the scientific, professional and lay public was asked a question of the constitutionality of the introduction of the state of emergency, i.e. the fulfillment of the conditions necessary for its proclamation."Having in mind the views of the Constitutional Court, according to which the issue of risk assessment falls within the competence of the relevant state bodies, and that it is necessary to leave a certain `margin of free assessment`, to the competent state body deciding on the state of emergency for the sake of urgent and efficient action, as well as the fact that the Court does not judge the facts in the constitutional review procedure, but the violation of rights, it is clear that the dilemmas about the legal validity of the reasons for declaring a state of emergency are irrelevant" (Golić, Zarubica 2020, 41).
The fight against a specific virus or "invisible enemy", which was a novelty and unknown even for the medical profession, requiring, in addition to the timely introduction of preventive and other measures, a certain coordination of activities of the state and local governments in their implementation.The National Strategy for Prevention and Treatment in Emergencies identifies five strategic areas, i.e. activities aimed at disaster risk reduction: ensuring that disaster risk reduction becomes a national and local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation; identification, assessing and monitoring disaster risks and improving early warning; using knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of security and resilience at all levels; reducing the risk factor; preparing for a disaster in order to respond effectively at all levels (Tadić 2020, 123).
In risk management, and especially in its "essential phase -risk assessment -as a prerequisite for valid decision-making in conditions of risk and uncertainty", each state should coordinate appropriate action at the national, provincial and local levels of government, i.e. strategic, tactical and operational levels.(Stanković 2020, 181).The Emergency Situations HQ of the City of Kraljevo performed its work on risk assessment and decision-making during the state of emergency in accordance with existing legal and other normative acts, through cooperation of all relevant Prevention and Treatment entities, in order to protect the health of citizens in the city of Kraljevo.The Emergency Situations Headquarters organized its activities through the work of the Expert-Operational Team for Protection against Epidemics, meetings of the operational part of the Emergency Situations Headquarters and sessions of the entire composition of Emergency Situations Headquarters.
The results achieved in that area are best illustrated by specific statistical data, which were published a few days before the official lifting of the state of emergency on the territory of the Republic of Serbia.
In the continuation of the work, I will deal with the analysis of the activities undertaken by the City HQ for Emergency Situations in order to prevent and protect the population from the COVID-19 virus.In terms of timing, activities and measures can be divided into those adopted in the period before the declaration of the state of emergency and activities and measures taken during the state of emergency.
While plans, orders, conclusions, recommendations differ according to the type of normative documents, the Department for Civil Protection Affairs, as a separate organizational unit within the City Administration, performing professional and technical tasks within the scope of competence of the Emergency Situations Headquarters, played the most important role in the preparation of normative acts and their harmonization with the acts adopted by the Crisis Committee and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
In accordance with the legal framework, bylaws, the Statute of the City of Kraljevo, the Rules of Procedure of the City Council and the Rules of Procedure of the Emergency Situations Headquarters, the City Council of the City of Kraljevo, as the executive body of the local self-government unit, and the Emergency Headquarters, participated in the adoption of normative acts.

Prevention and Treatment plan in case of epidemics-pandemics
In addition to laws and bylaws, the normative source of activities of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations is a document called the Prevention and Treatment Plan in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics.Its relevance and applicability in the case of epidemics-pandemics is evidenced by the fact that other states and local governments have adopted such a document.Thus, in Brazil, the Prevention and Treatment Plan represents the "official model for all action plans in the event of a pandemic" (City of Kraljevo, Emergency Situations Headquarters in the city of Kraljevo, 2-126 / 20-X, 3).
There are four different chapters in the structure of the Prevention and Treatment Plan in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics.The introductory part presents the risk assessment, organization of competent services, manner of action of competent services and measures.The Plan states that at the time of drafting the document "the risk of importing the infection caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 into the Republic of Serbia is growing, and can be assessed as moderate" (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74 / 2020-I, 4)."When it comes to the City of Kraljevo, and in relation to its geostrategic, i.e. infrastructural significance, the existence and functioning of the civil airport Morava, traffic transit, as well as a large number of citizens who work in other countries and occasionally reside in Kraljevo, can be stated, as in the case of the Republic of Serbia, the risk of importing the infection caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 into the city of Kraljevo is growing, and can be assessed as moderate" (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74 / 2020-I, 4).
Regarding the organization of the functioning of the competent services, the Plan states that the Public Health Institute in Kraljevo is a competent institution monitoring the epidemiological situation, issuing instructions for action and informing the public in the city of Kraljevo, the municipalities of Vrnjačka Banja and Raška.In accordance with the recommendations, opinions and instructions for action of the Institute of Public Health, the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations issues orders, recommendations and conclusions.In addition to the adoption of normative acts, the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations coordinates the functioning of all entities which are relevant for reducing the risk of spreading the infection caused by the coronavirus (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74 / 2020-I, 6).
According to the decision of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations, from March 24, 2020, a special expert-operational team (SOT) for protection against the epidemic was formed within the City Headquarters, whose task is to monitor the epidemiological situation on a daily basis, analyze all relevant information to act in the event of a threat or outbreak, as well as to propose the adoption of acts in order to implement the necessary measures.The activities of the City Headquarters include the provision of necessary human and material resources for the needs of competent authorities and health services to act in case of threat or epidemic, whereby subjects of importance for Prevention and Treatment can be activated (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74 / 2020-I, 6, City of Kraljevo, City Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-29 / 20-XI).
The activities of the City Emergency Headquarters include providing space for isolation of infected persons, providing and organized delivery of basic necessities for the most vulnerable categories of the population, procurement of personal and mutual protection, sanitation, hiring people to help medical staff and providing care to the sick, providing and maintaining channels for the communication between competent services, timely and accurate informing of the public, issuing instructions for action, etc. (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74/2020-I, 6).
The Public Health Institute performs epidemiological surveillance and control, coordination, communication, issuing instructions and procedures for dealing with the epidemic (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74/2020-I, 8-9), and the Sector for Emergency Management, The Ministry of the Interior, the Department for Emergency Situations in Kraljevo, is "responsible for managing and undertaking all necessary measures and activities for the purpose of Prevention and Treatment" (Ibid.).While the Health Center takes care of receiving, caring for and visiting the sick, the elderly and the immobile, providing first aid and evacuation (City of Kraljevo, City Council, 011-74 / 2020-I, 7), Red Cross volunteers deliver aid packages to socially vulnerable citizens and persons sentenced to isolation.
The Second Brigade of the Army provides entrances to the General Hospital "Studenica", the Health Center, the respiratory clinic and the Gerontology Center in Mataruška Banja.In addition to sanctioning violations of public order and peace, the Police Administration checked the observance of isolation measures of all citizens on the territory of Kraljevo, Vrnjačka Banja and Raška, to whom this measure was imposed, every day during the state of emergency, by calling their home phone numbers.
In the operational part of the Prevention and Treatment Plan in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics, the algorithms, i.e. the procedure scheme, as well as the internal procedure algorithm, are presented.

Structure and activities of the Headquarters for Emergency Situations of the City of Kraljevo
The Headquarters for Emergency Situations of the City of Kraljevo, which managed the fight against the virus epidemic on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, was established on September 2, 2016 by the decision of the Assembly of the City of Kraljevo.The legal basis for the establishment of the Emergency Headquarters is contained in Article 29 of the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management.
Legal regulations in the field of emergency management remain only a potential means of human struggle with challenges and risks if it is not accompanied by a desire for all the provided resources to be used.It has already been mentioned that the COVID-19 virus was an enigma for scientists, who were just trying to decipher the ways of its transmission.As the discovery of the vaccine is still uncertain, the most logical step was to try to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.For that reason, in the first days of the epidemic, great attention was paid to prevention.It can be stated that prevention was the essence of all the activities of the Headquarters for Emergency Situations of the City of Kraljevo during the state of emergency.
In order to respect the epidemiological measures, the meetings of the operational part of the Emergency Situations Headquarters and the sessions of the Emergency Situations Headquarters in full convocation were organized in the auditoriums with spatial capacities where the recommended distance between those present could be realized.In addition, the Rules of Procedure of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations also enable the online sessions of the Headquarters.
During the state of emergency, starting from March 22, 2020, the sessions of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations were held electronically.In that period, 100 acts were passed, mostly conclusions (87), but also 8 orders and 5 recommendations (City of Kraljevo, Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-126 / 20-X, 2).
A simple review of the overall performance of the City Emergency Headquarters during the state of emergency reveals two specifics: 1) "a unique system of communication and coordination has been established through the City Emergency Headquarters" (City of Kraljevo, Emergency Headquarters in Kraljevo, 2 -126 / 20-X, 3); and 2) the Operational Headquarters within the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations was established.
These specifics influenced the achievement of results in terms of preventing the spread of the epidemic in the city of Kraljevo, because all activities of the Headquarters were precisely planned and consistently implemented by engaging all resources of the city of Kraljevo, with the help of national health institutions, army, police, chambers of commerce and business entities.
The "unified system of communication and coordination" is based on the legally prescribed competencies of emergency headquarters'.The Emergency Headquarters "manages and coordinates the work of the entities for disaster risk reduction and manages the implementation of established tasks during emergencies" (Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management 2018, Article 43).
Without a clearly defined initial core of activities, which should include the collection and processing of incoming information, analysis of the epidemiological situation and the elaboration of a plan for further action, it is impossible to prevent uncontrolled spending of limited resources.Time was a particularly limited resource because the epidemic, due to the easy transmission of the virus, spread rapidly, which required timely responses from the authorities.Communication and coordination of all entities was performed on a daily basis, and the City Headquarters met daily during the state of emergency, when the received reports were analyzed in detail and appropriate acts were adopted (City of Kraljevo, Headquarters for Emergency Situations in the City of Kraljevo, 2-126 / 20-X, 3).
The normative basis for the formation of the Operational HQ can be found in two documents.While the first is the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Serbia from 2010, the second is the decision of the Assembly of the City of Kraljevo from 2016.Thus, Article 18 of the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Serbia on the Composition and Manner of Work of Emergency Headquarters, dated 16 December 2010, states that "for the performance of specific Prevention and Treatment tasks, the emergency headquarters may form expert-operational teams".The second document stipulates that "the City Headquarters, if necessary, forms expert-operational teams for specific Prevention and Treatment tasks" (City of Kraljevo, Assembly of the City of Kraljevo, 011-162/2016-III).
In accordance with that, on March 24, 2020, the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations issued a conclusion establishing the Operational Headquarters, as a "professional-operational team of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the City of Kraljevo" (City of Kraljevo, City Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the city of Kraljevo, 2-29 / 20-XI).It included representatives of the local self-government, the army, the police, the Security Information Agency and the Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The essence of the formation of the Operational Headquarters is in the intention that the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations performs all operational tasks through the Operational Headquarters, which is institutionally and in terms of personnel clearly profiled for performing the stated tasks.

Prevention measures
The key activity during the state of emergency and the fight against the virus epidemic concerned the implementation of prevention measures, which, conditionally, can be divided into two groups.The first refers to the disinfection of residential and public areas in the the city of Kraljevo, the area of Mataruška Banja and Ušće, which was performed with the engagement of PUC "Čistoća" (Waste Disposal), PUC "Vodovod" (Waterworks), members of civil protection units and the Serbian Army.Disinfection of streets and roads was performed every evening, according to the previously planned dynamic plan.PUC "Vodovod" was in charge of preparing a disinfectant solution, composed of sodium hypochlorite and a precise amount of drinking water.The second group of prevention measures referred to the distribution of protective equipment and educational brochures to the population in urban and rural areas.
The Emergency Situations Headquarters also has the task of "managing and coordinating the implementation of civil protection measures and tasks" (Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management 2018, Article 43, item 2).
On the first day of the state of emergency, the city headquarters for emergency situations put all human and material potentials in the service of preserving the health of the citizens of Kraljevo.Immediately after the introduction of the state of emergency in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, on March 15, 2020, the City Emergency Headquarters adopted an order stating that "all members of civil protection in the city of Kraljevo should be made available to the City Emergency Headquarters in the territory of Kraljevo in order to implement civil protection measures to prevent the occurrence and spread of COVID-19 virus infection" (City of Kraljevo, Emergency Headquarters on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-6 / 20-XI).
The importance of civil protection is especially emphasized in the Work Plan of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the Territory of the City of Kraljevo for 2020, where within the activities no. 8 states that "the ultimate goal of all these activities should be to raise public awareness of the importance of civil protection and preventive measures, as well as the promotion of civil protection in the city of Kraljevo" (City of Kraljevo, City Assembly of Kraljevo, 06-129/2020-I,5).
One of the most important activities of the civil protection units in the prevention of the epidemic included the disinfection of residential and public areas on the territory of the city of Kraljevo, which, as it was already pointed out, was carried out with the help of public companies and members of the Serbian Army (CBRN defense).
Five rounds of disinfection of about 1,000 housing units were performed (City of Kraljevo, Emergency Situations Headquarters on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-126/20-X, 5).The areas in front of trade facilities intended for persons older than 65, public roads, schools, entrances to health institutions, as well as the spaces between residential buildings were also disinfected (Ibid.).Mobile tanks with disinfectants intended for households were set up at 16 locations in the wider territory of the city, taking into account the number of citizens, but also the territorial distribution.During the state of emergency, members of the civil protection disinfected over 2,500,000 m 2 of residential and public areas on the territory of the city of Kraljevo (Ibid.).
In addition to civil protection units, voluntary fire brigades, with their manpower and other resources (vehicles, tanks), also played a significant role in the prevention and provision of disinfectant fluid.Stationary cisterns served as reservoirs for disinfectant liquid, from which all citizens and businesses could take sufficient amounts of sodium hypochlorite.
In order to educate the population in the field of protection against virus transmission, Family Plans for Protection against Coronavirus were prepared (in a circulation of 50,000 copies), which were distributed to the population through members of civil protection units, building managers and local community presidents.The city headquarters provided desobarriers and sufficient quantities of disinfectants for all housing communities on the territory of Kraljevo.The managers of the housing communities were in charge of maintaining the barriers, and the citizens of Kraljevo were given protective masks, gloves and disinfectants.

Vertical dimension of activities
The city headquarters for emergency situations has completely synchronized its work with the activities and measures taken by the state authorities during the state of emergency.
"Communication and coordination has been established with all relevant republican institutions and organizations of importance" (City of Kraljevo, Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-126/20-X, 3), and "requests for assistance in funds have been sent, equipment, personnel to the competent republican institutions, and through the district headquarters for emergency situations" (Ibid.).
Immediately after the introduction of the state of emergency, the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations undertook activities in accordance with the appropriate measures of the Government of Serbia, but also the recommendations of the Crisis Committee, whose goal was to prevent further spread of the virus.Those activities were the following: rationalization and reorganization of jobs and resources within the framework of local self-government, interruption of counter services, schools and preschool institutions, interruption of the activities of the Sports Center "Ibar", organization of urban and suburban transport in accordance with government measures and instructions of the Crisis Committee, including the later suspension of urban and suburban transport, with the introduction of the so-called corridor lines, which transported exclusively health workers and persons engaged in the work of the Headquarters for Emergency Situations (City of Kraljevo, Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the City of Kraljevo, 2-126/20-X, 8-9).

Horizontal dimension of activities
During the state of emergency, communication and cooperation of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations with other cities and municipalities was achieved, based on the legal possibility for each local self-government unit to "cooperate with neighboring local self-government units in implementing measures and activities important for disaster risk reduction and emergency management" (Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management 2018, Article 29, item 9).The Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management also provides for the possibility for "local self-government units to establish forms of mutual cooperation and association in order to provide assistance, exchange experiences and joint planning and take measures and activities within their competencies established by this law" (Ibid.).
The cooperation of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations with other cities and municipalities was two-way and meaningful, both in terms of the assistance that the city of Kraljevo received and the assistance that it distributed to other local governments, which had a material and professional dimension.
Cooperation was established with the city municipality of Vračar in the preparation and publication of instructions in sign language intended for deaf and hard of hearing persons (City of Kraljevo, Headquarters for Emergency Situations on the territory of the city of Kraljevo, 2-126/20-X, 4).
At the beginning of the state of emergency, an official request was sent to the city of Kruševac to provide sufficient quantities of sodium hypochlorite, necessary for the disinfection of public areas (Ibid.).In the meantime, as PUC "Vodovod" mastered the production of sodium hypochlorite concentrate, in the period from April 24, 2020 to the end of May, 31 local self-government units, through the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, received a donation of necessary amounts of sodium hypochlorite from the city of Kraljevo.(Ibid., 8).During the state of emergency, a total of 10,140 liters of sodium hypochlorite were donated (Ibid.).
The City of Kraljevo, through the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities, forwarded the Prevention and Treatment Plan in case of epidemicspandemics to other local governments.Thus, cooperation was achieved with other cities and municipalities in providing professional assistance.

Conclusion
The results of the work of the City Emergency Headquarters in the City of Kraljevo in the prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 virus infection are significant, and they can also be expressed in the numbers of infected persons.During the state of emergency, several important factors played a crucial role in the functioning of the City Emergency Headquarters: 1) the document titled The Plan for Prevention and Treatmentt in Case of Epidemics-Pandemics, which, among other laws and bylaws, was the basic starting point of the work of the City Headquarters for Emergency Situations; 2) daily meetings of the Operational Staff and a specific work method, which consisted of timely and thoughtful, and above all strategic direction of the activities of the entities involved in the process of preventing the spread of the virus.In this way, uncontrolled spending of limited resources is avoided; 3) coordination of activities with the competent republic institutions, as well as adjustment of appropriate measures and activities, which were adopted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Crisis Committee during the state of emergency; 4) consistency and continuous work on the maximum engagement of the capacity of all city services in the function of prevention from the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The intersection of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the activities of the City Emergency Headquarters, discussed in this paper, shows that the times of epidemics-pandemics and emergencies are a unique opportunity to put to the human-institutional and material capabilities of local governments to a specific test when it comes to protection of citizens' health and safety.
The Strategic and Legal Framework of the State and Local Self-Government Units in Emergency Situations is represented by the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management (2018) and the National Strategy for Prevention and Treatment in Emergency Situation from 2011 (Tadić 2020, 123).Article 3 of the Law on Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management unequivocally states that "disaster risk reduction and emergency management is a national and local priority."