STA, 24 September 2020 - Slovenia recorded 122 new coronavirus infections in 2,848 tests on Wednesday. While two patients died, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital remained stable, fresh government data show.
The number of patients in hospital dropped by two to 63, but 13 were in intensive care, three more than the day before.
Two persons with Covid-19 died, increasing the death toll since the start of the epidemic to 145.
Slovenia now has 1,427 active cases out of a total of 4,816 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic.
New infections were confirmed in 53 municipalities yesterday. Ljubljana recorded 24 new infections, followed by Maribor, Domžale and Črna na Koroškem with eight, and Kranj, Kamnik, Slovenska Bistrica, Pivka and Litija with four cases each.
In the last two weeks, Slovenia recorded 68.4 infections per 100,000 people. 2,526 people are currently quarantined.
Nuška Čakš Jager from the National Institute of Public Heath said most of the infections were community transmissions, while the share of imported cases has been decreasing. Recent imported cases came from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Austria.
Since the virus is spreading throughout Europe, government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said today that in the absence of an EU agreement regarding the crossing of the border, the Slovenian government would have to decide on potential changes to its list of epidemiologically safe countries.
He said he expected Austria and Hungary, which have seen a surge in new infections, could be removed from the list of safe countries.
In Slovenia, the number of infections has been rising among medical staff and in care homes. Currently more women than men are infected and most of the cases are aged between 45 and 54.
Two members of primary school staff and three kindergarten teachers tested positive along with five primary school students, three high school students and two kindergarten children.
One care home resident and one employee tested positive on Wednesday. Infections were also confirmed in three employees and one resident of a centre for persons with disabilities. On Tuesday, the CUDV centre for persons with disabilities in Črna na Koroškem was mentioned as a new hotspot.
A care home in Rogaška Slatina had one resident test positive on Wednesday and one patient receiving palliative care died during the night, the head of the home, Kristina Kampuš, told the STA.
The head of the Danica Vogrinec care home in Maribor, Marko Slavič, told the press today that the institution still had 40 infected residents, 33 of whom have only mild symptoms. Three have been transferred to the hospital, while four of the infected residents have died.
But Slavič said that in the last five years, 50.4 people died on average at the home between January and September. This year 48 people died. "So Covid did not make this situation worse," he said.
No additional infections were confirmed after yesterday's testing, so Slavič thinks the situation is under control.
Currently, 22 members of the home's staff are quarantined. None of them have any health problems and some of the infected have had no symptoms.
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