STA, 2 September 2020 - Slovenia has recorded a spike in coronavirus infections with the daily tally hitting 55 on Tuesday, a five month high, as one more Covid-19 patient died, government data show.
The latest cases come from 1,608 tests, the highest daily number so far.
The number of Covid-19 hospitalisations increased by one to 26 as two patients were discharged home yesterday. Four patients are intensive care, one more than the day before.
The latest infections bring Slovenia's overall tally of cases to 2,979, of which 486 are still active, and the death toll to 134, data from tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org show.
The government's chief Covid-19 advisor, Bojana Beović, is concerned about the spike in infections coinciding with the start of the new school year.
"That's what we had been trying to prevent, and we've obviously not been successful (...) as soon as infections spread in schools, classes, schools will have to be closed," she said, appealing on schools to exert caution and implement precautionary measures.
She believes the latest infections come from sources originating abroad.
She warned that restrictions would have to be stepped up if the infections continue to grow, suggesting those should best be imposed "where problems occur".
Concern about the high number of infections was also expressed by Health Minister Tomaž Gantar.
The latest cases include two residents of the Črneče care home in the northern Koroška region, which has now four infected elderly residents but no infections among staff, according to the facility director Srečko Mlačnik.
The infection was brought into the home, which takes care of about 255 elderly persons, by a newly admitted resident, who only developed symptoms later.
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