STA, 13 August 2020 - A total of 29 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in 856 tests on Wednesday in Slovenia, according to the most recent data released by the government on Thursday. No new deaths were reported.
New cases were reported in 14 municipalities, including in Ljubljana (5), Celje (3), Vipava (2) and Starše (2). The majority of the new cases were in the 15-34 age group, according to the national tracker covid-19.sledilnik.
Ljubljana now has 41 active cases after recording nine of the 31 cases confirmed on Tuesday. Most of the latest cases have been imported from Croatia.
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Marta Grgič Vitek of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said imported cases have outnumbered local transmissions in the last week, with 27 of the 33 most recent imported cases coming from Croatia.
"It is a problem if so many cases are imported from Croatia on a daily basis," she said, adding that many of the infected persons have told epidemiologists they had been to beach parties in Croatia.
If this trend continues, the government task force for coronavirus will propose that Slovenia introduce stricter measures on the border, perhaps even a mandatory quarantine for travellers from Croatia, said Bojana Beović, the head of the task force.
"In the event that this continues, we may enter the autumn season with problems associated with socialising in schools and workplaces. There could be outbreaks of infections," according to Beović.
The total number of infections reached 2,332 yesterday. There were 193 active cases and 19 patients were in hospital, with two requiring intensive care.
The Covid-19 death toll remains at 129.
Beović and epidemiologist Marta Grgič Vitek also told the press that epidemiologists in Slovenia were overworked as they were constantly looking for contacts of the infected persons in order to stem the spreading of the virus.
"Abroad, one epidemiologist comes at every 10,000 residents, and in Slovenia there is only one epidemiologist per 50,000 residents or even more," Beović said.
Grgič Vitek of the contagious diseases centre of the National Public Health Institute meanwhile noted that 30 new infections a day was a "critical number" for the epidemiological service.
In a response to an MP question, the government said today that it would try to encourage medical students to specialise in public health, with six specialisations open this year and at least in the next five years.
"At this pace, it will be possible to get at least ten additional doctors specialised in epidemiology in the next ten years," the government added.
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