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This summary is provided by the STA:
Daily coronavirus tally down to 47 but curve worrying
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia saw 47 coronavirus infections from 1,110 tests performed on Sunday, less than half the Saturday figure as testing typically slows down at the weekend. The overall case count rose to 3,749, of which 866 are active infections. Covid-19 hospitalisations rose to 40, including nine in intensive care, but no new fatalities were reported. Milan Krek, National Institute of Public Health director, told TV Slovenija on Sunday that Slovenia's R0, the figure showing the average number of people infected by one infectious individual, had risen to 1.4 and the country could see 165 daily infections in the coming days. Hospitals will have to reorganise to accommodate for the new Covid-19 patients.
Infections spreading in care homes again
MARIBOR - The new coronavirus is spreading again in care homes across Slovenia, with the number of infected residents and staff rising fast. The biggest outbreak is reported at the Danica Vogrinec Home for the Elderly in the city of Maribor, the biggest aged-care facility in the country with some 800 beds. Tabor, the smaller of the home's two units, has seen the number of infected rise to 24 residents and 16 staff. A total of 438 care home residents across the country have so far been infected, 38 in the past week alone. Most of the country's 135 Covid-19 fatalities have been among care home residents.
Pivka puts in place curbs after spike in infections
PIVKA - Pivka, a municipality in south-western Slovenia, put in place additional curbs on activity on top of the existing national Covid-19 restrictions after a spike in coronavirus cases there, becoming the first local community to impose such measures in the second wave of the epidemic. The local government issued a ten-day ban on the use of all indoor sports facilities and all cultural and sports events held indoors. The move comes after eleven active cases were confirmed on Sunday. 68 people are in quarantine, including 35 primary school pupils, while 20 infections have been confirmed at food-processing company Pivka Perutninarstvo.
Janša says Slovenia not planning to join Visegrad Group
VIENNA, Austria - Prime Minister Janez Janša told the Austrian TV ORF that Slovenia had no intention of committing to any fixed alliances such as the Visegrad Group. Instead, he stressed the importance of cooperation among neighbouring countries. "We feel no need to say that we will always support a country or a group of countries within the EU. We always look at what is good for our citizens, who elected us," Janša said.
Logar hosting C5 meeting tomorrow
LJUBLJANA - Foreign Minister Anže Logar will host his counterparts from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia for a third meeting of the informal Central 5 (C5) initiative at Brdo pri Kranju on Tuesday. The ministers are expected to focus on coordinating measures to battle the coronavirus pandemic and mitigating its economic and social consequences. They are also expected to exchange views on integration of the regional infrastructure, illegal migration and the Western Balkans.
Pivec remains minister, more on her deputy prime minister status to follow
LJUBLJANA - Aleksandra Pivec remains agriculture minister for now, but it should be clear shortly whether she remains a deputy prime minister after she resigned as Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) leader last week. That is up to the government, said DeSUS's interim leader Tomaž Gantar after a meeting of coalition party leaders. The posts of deputy PMs are usually taken by party leaders to facilitate the government's work. Gantar said DeSUS was currently not looking for a candidate to replace Pivec as minister after she lost the party's trust and indicated it had no solution to who should become DeSUS's deputy PM until a new leader is elected.
Govt rating keeps falling as SDS expands lead in Delo poll
LJUBLJANA - The voter approval rating for the government keeps falling while the senior coalition Democrats (SDS) have further expanded their lead, according to the latest poll in the newspaper Delo. The poll shows 24% of respondents approving of the government's work, against 42.5% who rate it negatively. While the share of those who rate the government's job negatively is actually a bit lower than last month's 44%, the share of those rating it positively dropped by more than four percentage points. Meanwhile, the poll does not show major changes in the rankings of the top five parties since August, although all have seen a fall in ratings.
Five bids arrive for one post at Constitutional Court
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor has received five bids in a repeated call for applications for one vacancy at the Constitutional Court, which include three candidates who already filed their applications in the first call - Rok Svetlič, Marko Starman and Anže Erbežnik. Marjan Lekše and Boštjan Pintar have also applied, both of whom already unsuccessfully vied for one of the nine posts at Slovenia's top court in recent years. The candidates are set to replace Dunja Jadek Pensa, whose term expired on 14 July but who remains at the post until her replacement is appointed in parliament.
Panel hears entire railway network needs to be upgraded
LJUBLJANA - A panel debate agreed that Slovenia had great potential in logistics, but building the new rail track serving the port of Koper would not be enough, as the entire railway network in the country should be upgraded. Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec said that logistics, port services, transports and warehouses were important for Slovenia, and the port of Koper was of strategic importance, so it needed to be developed further. An analysis of port business's impact on the economy was presented, showing that over 7,000 jobs in Slovenia were indirectly linked to the port activity and that every euro in added value in port activity brings almost an additional euro in other related activities.
Inbound FDI up 5% in 2019
LJUBLJANA - Inbound foreign direct investment to Slovenia increased by 4.9% in 2019 to EUR 16 billion, while Slovenia's outbound FDI rose by 8.7% to EUR 6.6 billion, show data released by central bank Banka Slovenije. Austria was the biggest foreign investor, accounting for almost a quarter of the FDI, followed by Luxembourg (13%), Switzerland (11%), Germany (8.5%) and Italy (7.9%). Foreign investors recorded the highest profits to date in 2019, at EUR 1.4 billion with EUR 0.9 billion in dividend payouts.
Govt replaces Forest Service head
LJUBLJANA - The government dismissed Damjan Oražem as the head of the national Forest Service, on Friday, replacing him with Janez Logar. The replacement was proposed by Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Aleksandra Pivec, who in the days prior to the dismissal pointed to the accusations raised against Oražem in the media, including of mobbing, abuse of office, unwarranted overtime payments and contentious hiring. Oražem had dismissed the allegations.
Tesla Powerwalls to be available in Merkur stores
LJUBLJANA - The Powerwall rechargeable energy storage devices by the US electric vehicle maker Tesla will be available to customers in Merkur shops around Slovenia as the hardware retailer signed a partnership agreement with Tesla's Slovenian partner, the energy system solutions company NGEN. Under the agreement, Merkur stores will sell the Powerwall system, which uses lithium-ion batteries, and for which NGEN has developed a platform that has its users participate in the electricity balancing market.
Carinthia writers and artists showcased in anthology
LJUBLJANA - Forty writers and twenty artists from Austria's Carinthia, a province populated by Slovenians, are presented in a bilingual book issued to mark the centenary of the Carinthian plebiscite, which awarded a sizeable part of the Slovenian-speaking territory to Austria after World War I. The book Unser Kärnten - Naša Koroška (Our Carinthia) is a joint project of the Association of Slovenian Writers in Austria, the association of Carinthian writers and publisher Mohorjeva Družba.
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