STA, 23 September 2021 - A total of 1,011 new coronavirus infections were confirmed on Wednesday, down 75 from Tuesday, as the test positivity rate dropped by two percentage points to 18%, data released by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) on Thursday shows. The number of estimated active cases in Slovenia thus dropped by nine to 13,734.
The 7-day average of new cases also dropped yesterday, by 46 to 955 from Tuesday, and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents was down by one to 648, NIJZ data also shows.
According to the government, there were four Covid-19 deaths yesterday.
The number of hospitalised Covid patients this morning stands at 391, seven more than yesterday, of whom 102 are in intensive care, three more than yesterday.
According to NIJZ, 976,963 residents, or 46.3% of the population, have received all the doses of the vaccine to be fully immunised against Covid-19.
Infectologist Matjaž Jereb said at a press conference that it an estimated 350-400 Covid-19 patients would require standard hospital care and up to 140 patients would require intensive care at the end of September.
He said that the projections of development of the epidemic had been somewhat more favourable in the last week, but "we are far from being able to be carefree".
Jereb noted that the bulk of Covid-19 patients in hospitals were persons who had not been vaccinated, while attributing a low average age of patients in intensive care units to a lower vaccination rate among the younger population.
The youngest Covid-19 patient in standard units of the UKC Ljubljana hospital is aged 41, and the youngest patient in intensive care is aged 27. Neither of them has been vaccinated against Covid-19, he said.
"We need to be aware that our hospital capacities are limited," Jereb said, adding that the "more the number of Covid patients grows, the more we will limit activities in non-Covid units and the greater risk for non-Covid patients."
