11 Jun 2021, 14:53 PM

Slovenia Likely to End Formal Epidemic Next Tuesday, But Not All Restrictions Lifted

STA, 11 June 2021 - The government Covid-19 advisory group has proposed that the formal declaration of the coronavirus epidemic not be extended after it expires next week. Health Minister Janez Poklukar said next Tuesday will likely be the last day of the epidemic, however this will not mean a complete relaxation of measures.

Under the act on communicable diseases, there is a legal basis for certain Covid restrictions to remain in place after the formal end of the epidemic, Poklukar noted at Friday's Covid briefing.

Today, Slovenia entered the EU's orange tier of restrictions as its 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents has fallen below 150, standing at 146.

The group's head Mateja Logar said that the proposal for the government not to extend the epidemic had been made because two out of three thresholds had been met and the remaining one, the 14-day incidence below 140, would likely be reached in the coming days.

The virus is still circulating and current preventive measures do not affect day-to-day life much, she said, noting that proof of either vaccination or recovery or a negative test result would remain obligatory for events and hospitality services after next week.

The same goes for caps on visitors or customers, mask-wearing in indoor public spaces and physical distancing. On the other hand, the end of the epidemic will mean the end of a cap on patrons sitting at the same table in bars and restaurants.

Logar expects that the epidemic curve will continue to decline and that Slovenia will be upgraded to the green tier of restrictions according to the EU's criteria in late July or early August.

11 Jun 2021, 11:36 AM

Slovenia Removes Several Regions & Countries from Red List, Including Croatian Adriatic

STA, 10 June 2021 - The government has changed the list of countries and territories placed in the red zone in terms of the Covid-19 epidemic to exclude, among others, the Croatian Adriatic area, Germany and the Czech Republic. The relevant decree adopted on Thursday will enter into force on Saturday and be valid until 20 June

The changes also include Turkey being moved from the dark red list to the red list, the Government Communication Office said.

Also removed from the red list are Switzerland, the Vatican, the Austrian state of Tyrol, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. Meanwhile, the Portuguese territory of the Azores has been red-listed.

As of Saturday, border crossing in air traffic within the EU and Schengen Area is also possible outside the three check-points determined for international traffic.

The areas not put on the red and dark red list are considered as having no high risk of novel coronavirus infection.

Persons coming from such areas to Slovenia may enter the country without being ordered to quarantine at home if they prove that they had continuously resided there for at least five days before entering Slovenia.

07 Jun 2021, 17:37 PM

Slovenia Will Relax All COVID Measures After Entering EU Green Tier

STA, 7 June 2021 - The government's Covid-19 advisory group does not intend to propose any substantial changes regarding Covid restrictions this week. Mateja Logar, the head of the group, said on Monday that a complete relaxation of measures could be put forward when Slovenia is in tier green according to the EU's traffic light system.

To reach this point, the country's 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents must fall below 25 and the rate of positive coronavirus tests below 4%.

The latest data by Slovenia's National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) show that the first figure stood at 173 on Sunday, whereas the positivity rate was 4.3%.

Logar pointed out at today's Covid briefing that Slovenia was thus currently still in the red tier under the traffic light system by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The country has however already reached tier green if taking into account its own traffic light system.

According to a forecast by the Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS), Slovenia could enter the EU's orange tier of restrictions in mid-June and the green tier in the first half of August.

The reproduction number, meaning the number of secondary cases per infectious case, is currently 0.88. IJS experts said today that the figure should fall below 0.7 to avoid the risk of a spread of more virulent strains of the coronavirus.

Currently, the share of active infections is 0.4% of the population or approximately one in 250 Slovenian residents.

Asked about the reasons for the Slovenian roadmap for easing the restrictions being milder than the EU's, Logar said that was mainly because of country-specific sociological characteristics.

She highlighted the fact that that Austria had the 14-day incidence three times lower than Slovenia, nevertheless the restrictions in Slovenia and Austria were comparable.

The epidemic in Slovenia is partly subsiding, however the situation is not yet what we would like it to be, she said.

"We know from the experience of the past year that being too quick to relax the restrictions leads to another increase in infections. Although we're doing better, we still need to be cautious and heed current measures," she said.

Asked about the possibility to make the option of self-testing available to all and not just students, Logar said that the current legislation would need to be amended to allow for that. Under the current law, microbiological testing could only be performed by qualified lab workers.

She also said that in the event of self-testing being available to all, there should be safeguards in place to prevent any abuse. The option will be discussed if there are no major improvements regarding the epidemiological status.

Touching upon the vaccination for youths aged 12-15, Logar said that experts had no reservations about it. According to her, if there are any hesitations about this, they are related to the logistics of such an upgrade of the vaccination strategy.

She also said that Covid-19 vaccination of children had been carried out before in the case of those with underlying conditions.

The vaccination pace in Slovenia is gradually picking up. So far, more than 34% of the population has received at least one shot and 22.8% are fully inoculated, show NIJZ data.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) said today that companies had capitalised on the option of workplace vaccination programmes. The GZS would like to see herd immunity in Slovenia being reached as soon as possible.

The latest covid data for Slovenia

07 Jun 2021, 10:18 AM

More COVID Rules Relaxed for Events, Accommodation, Stores, Restaurants, Swimming Pools

STA, 7 June 2021 - Several restrictions introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have been loosed as of today, including in the events industry, accommodation, shopping and construction works.

The events industry is still limited to staff and visitors who have been vaccinated against, recovered from Covid-10 or tested, but the venues can now be filled up to 75% of fixed seats, up from 50% so far.

In open-air venues with no fixed seats, chairs must be at least one metre one from another, while the 1.5-metre distance still applies to those who stand, except for members of the same household.

Accommodation facilities with up to 60 units can offer up to 45 units, while those larger than 60 units, including camp sites, can be filled up to 75% of their capacity.

Swimming pools are now open to all guests who have been vaccinated, tested or recovered, with staff also having to meet these criteria, but still with a 75% capacity cap.

The ban on serving and consuming food and drinks at take-away points has also been lifted, while shops must now allow only 10 square metres per customer, down from 20.

06 Jun 2021, 12:31 PM

What Mladina & Demokracija Are Saying This Week: Govt Abused Epidemic vs The Exhibitionist Left

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 4 June 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Govt abused epidemic for political, economic goals

STA, 4 June 2021 – Mladina, the left-wing weekly, says in its latest editorial that the excessive number of Covid-19 deaths in Slovenia is the responsibility of the government as it has acted as if it knows everything, while taking advantage of the epidemic as a state of emergency in order to achieve its political and economic goals.

"It was quickly clear to residents of this country that, despite the high-flying words and a lot of talk, it was not about as few people as possible getting infected and dying," the weekly says under the headline 4,265 Slovenian Flags.

The title refers to the small flags set up by the youth wing of the opposition Social Democrats (SD) in Tivoli Park in Ljubljana to commemorate as many victims of Covid-19 in Slovenia.

All this is the reason why the current government is so unpopular, and its latest great defeat is vaccination, and young people are now getting vaccinated because the "government's conduct and authoritarian governance has deterred many people from getting vaccinated."

Vaccination is a matter of trust and by expanding the age groups for vaccination, the government is trying to conceal the poor results when it comes to vaccination rates by all age groups, Mladina says.

"The government has not implemented any serious vaccination campaign, and the current campaign is carried out by friends of the leaderships of the coalition Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi)."

They do not understand that this is not a campaign for Twitter, but hard work in which people who are away from the information flow need to be addressed, the weekly adds.

There is also some more bad news, as Slovenia should be gearing up for the autumn, when a new outbreak of the epidemic is expected. Hospital capacities should start to be expanded right away and new stimulus packages should be in the making.

"Last summer the virus disappeared, so to say. The government did practically nothing over the summer, it behaved arrogantly and rejected good-willed warnings - even at the end of August, when it was completely clear what was coming."

This "nothing" could be seen this week in the form of Slovenian flags in Tivoli Park, concludes the commentary.

Demokracija: Centre-left turning into narcissistic exhibitionists

STA, 3 June 2021 - It is bizarre that trade unions have joined leftist activists and organisations in the streets while the centre-right government is adopting a tax reform that will bring higher pay for all workers, the right-wing weekly Demokracija says in Thursday's editorial in reference to Friday's anti-government rally in Ljubljana.

"It has once again become obvious that Slovenian trade union associations are a political appendix of leftist political parties and that socialist ideas thrive only where workers are kept at the brink of survival."

But if various leftist activists and their rioting in the streets can somehow be understood, the leftist parties' exaggerated insistence on toppling the government defies common sense, says the weekly.

While noting that every political group aims to come to power to implement its political agenda, "the problem" is that the four centre-left political parties think that only they can be in power and that only their view of the world is legitimate and "normal".

Demokracija advises them that in order to push for their political agenda, they should first win an election, adding they had a chance to be in power but Prime Minister Marjan Šarec "chickened out" and the centre-left coalition collapsed more than a year ago.

The weekly says they should take a deep breath and wait for the election to get a new opportunity, adding that all their attempts to undermine the government and the prime minister with interpellation and impeachment motions have failed.

"If you can count, the Janez Janša government has quite enough votes in parliament. And your 'sniper' search for opponents is childish, your invention of bad things and manipulation is a sign of hopelessness and sick malice," Demokracija adds, saying they are turning into "narcissistic exhibitionists".

All our posts in this series are here

05 Jun 2021, 20:09 PM

Anyone Can Now Enter Slovenia With a Negative Rapid Antigen Test, Even from a Red-List Country

STA, 5 June 2021 - Slovenia now recognises a negative rapid antigen test in addition to a negative PCR test for those who wish to avoid quarantine on entering Slovenia.

From Saturday, individuals who produce a negative result of a PCR or rapid antigen test not older than 48 hours are allowed to enter Slovenia without being ordered to quarantine even if they arrive from a red-listed country.

What are the red list countries? Find out from the government website…

A PCR or rapid antigen test is acceptable if it was performed in a member state of the EU or the Schengen Area, Australia, Israel, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Serbia, the UK and the US and, at international air travel checkpoints, Turkey.

Persons who have recovered from Covid-19 or who have been vaccinated against it have been able to enter without restrictions for a while.

03 Jun 2021, 15:09 PM

Attendance at Sports, Cultural Events Increased to 75% Capacity

STA, 3 June 2021 - The government changed on Thursday the decrees limiting attendance at public sport and cultural events to increase the permitted number of viewers from 50% to 75% of the number of fixed seats at a venue.

The relaxed attendance cap applies both to indoor and outdoor venues, the Government Communication Office said.

Rapid Antigen Test Now Enables Entry to Slovenia, Some Restrictions to Service Sector Relaxed

All other conditions and limitations related to public cultural events remain unchanged.

Events cannot be organised without seats, and attendance is permitted only to persons who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-10 and to persons who produce a negative test.

The ban on serving and consumption of food and drinks at events remains in force.

03 Jun 2021, 10:07 AM

Rapid Antigen Test Now Enables Entry to Slovenia, Some Restrictions to Service Sector Relaxed

STA, 2 June 2021 - The government has changed the decree on the conditions for entering Slovenia to recognise a negative rapid antigen test in addition to a negative PCR test. The change enters into force on 5 June and is valid until 13 June, the government said in a press release. Some measures in the services sector have also been relaxed.

Persons who produces a negative result of a PCR or rapid antigen test not older than 48 hours will be allowed to enter Slovenia without being ordered to quarantine, the government decided at Wednesday's session.

A PCR or rapid antigen test is acceptable if it was performed in a member state of the EU or the Schengen Area, Australia, Israel, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Serbia, the UK and the US and, at international air travel checkpoints, Turkey.

There are no changes for persons who have recovered from Covid-19 or who have been vaccinated, as they can enter Slovenia without being ordered to quarantine.

The government also relaxed some restrictions in the services sector.

Accommodation providers with up to 60 units will be able to fill up to 45 as of Monday, and those with more than 60 units will be allowed to fill up to 75% of their capacity. This also applies to camping sites.

Swimming pools will be available at up to 75% of capacity for visitors who are either tested, vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19.

The ban on consuming food and drink at the takeaway points has been lifted and shopping centres will need to reserve 10 sq metres for each customer instead of 20 sq metres, the Government Communication Office said.

The rules for the convention industry have also been slightly relaxed.

02 Jun 2021, 13:15 PM

Constitutional Courts Annuls Govt Decrees Restricting Movement, Public Assembly

STA, 2 June 2021 - The Constitutional Court has declared parts of the communicable diseases act allowing the government to restrict movement and public assembly unconstitutional, and annulled the government decrees that were based on this law. The National Assembly has two months to do away with the unconstitutional rules

In line with the court's decision, all government decrees that restricted the movement of citizens such as the night curfew, ban on assembly, confining citizens to their regions or municipalities during the epidemic were unconstitutional.

The court had deliberated on several government decrees from the period between April and October 2020, annulling them but not eliminating them.

This means that residents will not be able to reopen the closed offence proceedings or get reimbursement for the fines already paid.

However, all on-going proceedings related to the violations of the decrees will be suspended and all those who have not paid fines yet will not have to pay them.

The proponents of the constitutional review of the communicable diseases act argued that the law gave the government too much freedom in deciding on restrictions.

The court nodded to this, saying that the law was indeed unconstitutional because it allowed the government to freely choose the ways, types, scope and duration of restrictions that strongly interfered with the freedom of movement of citizens.

It also allowed it to freely decide in which cases, for how long and in what area of the country people's public assembly will be banned to prevent the spread of the contagious disease.

Moreover, the law does not set any requirements for the government decision-making such as consulting and cooperating with experts and informing the public about the circumstances, which is important for deciding on the measures.

The court gave the National Assembly two months to remedy the situation. Until then the current government decrees remain in force to "protect the health and lives of the people that could be in jeopardy in the future without a legal basis", which could lead to an even more unconstitutional situation, the court says on its website.

The court made the decision in a five-to-three vote in mid May, and announced it today.

Saša Zagorc, a professor of constitutional law from the Ljubljana Faculty of Law, told the STA the law should now be immediately amended in cooperation between the government and the National Assembly, which would show they truly respect the law.

He acknowledged the legislation had been poorly written at a time when Slovenia did not have any experience with what is a once in a century epidemic, but noted it was difficult to understand why the legislation was not modernised in the past year.

According to Zagorc, the new law should clearly promote the principle of rule of law and include democratic mechanisms for the oversight of the government's actions given that the government "unfortunately failed the test" in this area.

In a brief initial reaction to the news, Prime Minister Janez Janša noted on Twitter that the law had been passed in 1995.

Interior Minister Aleš Hojs stressed that all decrees adopted based on these provisions of the law remained in place. "Legally speaking, we protected the citizens' health legally and legitimately."

Coalition parties said that they respected the decision and that two months was enough to amend the law, noting that the government has simply acted in accordance with valid legislation in promulgating the specific decrees.

"It had not been determined before that anything was wrong [with this act] or that it was unconstitutional. The government acted in accordance with it and adopted measures and decrees in line with the law," Democrat (SDS) deputy Alenka Jeraj said.

Opposition parties welcomed the court's decision as yet another proof that government actions were unlawful. They said the government should step down. "The government must be held accountable for this blunder," SAB president Alenka Bratušek said.

Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina welcomed the decision saying it confirmed concerns that he had addressed to the government when the decrees were first adopted.

01 Jun 2021, 12:44 PM

Vaccination of Children Aged 12+ to Start “Soon”, End of All Restrictions When Herd Immunity (66%) Achieved in Population

STA, 31 May 2021 - The head of the national advisory group for Covid-19 vaccination, Bojana Beović, has said that following the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 or more, the group will recommend vaccinating children, especially children suffering from chronic diseases.

The vaccination advisory group will meet this week to adopt recommendations for vaccination of children, Beović said at Monday's coronavirus news conference.

The infectologist said that she could see no reason not to use Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine for children after it was approved by the EMA.

The vaccine had earlier been already approved for children aged at least 16.

Beović believes it makes sense to immunise them as Covid can also prove to be rather serious in children, while following the disease, they can suffer from Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).

Another reason to vaccinate them is to provide for collective immunity to contain the epidemic, she added.

Children could already get registered for vaccination on the eZvem portal as part of the general population, she said.

Looking at the summer months ahead, Beović said normal life without coronavirus restrictions could be possible once herd immunity had been achieved.

Current age breakdown of those with one or two vaccinations: www.cepimose.si

For the Wuhan strain of the coronavirus, this means 66% of the population, while more virulent strains require higher rates.

If immunity rates are lower, restrictions will have to remain in place, she said.

Beović warned the epidemic was still quite widely spread in Slovenia, noting that the country had many more infections per number of residents than Austria or Italy.

From this aspect, she expects the restrictions to have to be in place for quite some time.

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