STA, 14 November 2020 - A total of 1,731 out of 6,675 coronavirus tests came back positive in Slovenia on Friday, the government said on Saturday. The number of hospitalised patients rose by 25 to 1,224, with 206 patients needing intensive care, up six from the day before. Forty-one patients died, which is three more than on Thursday.

On Friday, 95 persons were discharged from hospital, which is 16 more than on Thursday.

So far, 54,109 coronavirus infections have been confirmed in Slovenia, and a total of 765 patients have died.

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STA, 13 November 2020 - Providers of practically all services have been affected by restrictive measures in the second wave of the epidemic just as they were in the first one in spring. They are expected to be affected equally or even more than in the spring, according to a website which brings together those who seek and provide services.

A steep rise in demand for all kinds of services was recorded in the spring after the lockdown was eased and eventually lifted, says omisli.si.

This was followed by a drop in demand during the holiday season, while the second wave of epidemic resulted in another drop.

Data analysed by omisli.si shows that construction and renovation services picked up better after the first wave than services related to weddings.

A drop in interest in business services was by 5% smaller in October than March, while providers of personal services record the same drop like in spring.

While the drop in services regarding weddings was by 8% bigger in October than in March, the figure for construction and renovation services was only 6%.

The most affected segment of weddings services in the second wave is the hiring of wedding venues (-76%), catering (-63%), wine (-50%) and photos (-41%).

The first and second waves have had approximately the same impact on business services.

Compared with the first wave, business services providers witnessed a drop of 88% for text writing in October, video production suffered a drop of 66% and tax counselling that of 49%.

A rise in demand was meanwhile recorded by providers of activities for children (+60%) and divorce legal counselling (+67%).

The greatest fall in demand was meanwhile recorded in coach hire (-88%), caravan hire (-82%) and venue hire (-74%) as well as in dentists and personal trainers (-65%).

Car repair and car paint shops meanwhile witnessed a great interest in October, given that they were one of the exceptions to lockdown.

Interest in driving schools last month soared by 900%, while demand for child daycare and pet daycare doubled.

STA, 13 November 2020 - The Slovenian government debated on Thursday a draft national Covid-19 vaccination programme, which will form the basis for a vaccination strategy once a vaccine is available. Health Minister Tomaž Gantar indicated Slovenia might get the first doses of the vaccine in December.

"We have the first serious prospects of being able to get the first doses of the vaccine in December," which means vaccination could start in the second half of that month, he told the press yesterday.

Gantar said the Health Ministry would have a meeting next week with Pfizer, one of the first companies likely to receive approval for the vaccine from the European Medicines Agency.

The European Union said this week it was very close to signing a contract with Pfizer and BioNTech, which have jointly developed a vaccine, for 300 million doses.

Gantar said there would not be enough shots initially for everyone in the EU, which meant each government would have to design a priority list.

"This means vaccinating high-risk groups first: nursing home residents, health workers, chronic patients and so on," he said.

The national Covid-19 vaccination programme says that Slovenia must make sure "vaccination services have sufficient resources to perform their tasks". Their main job in the initial stage will be to distribute the supplies of the vaccine.

The subsequent vaccination strategy will hinge on the available vaccines and the latest information about the vaccines.

In the afternoon, Doroteja Novak Gosarič of the Health Ministry said at the government press conference that the strategy would be ready by the end of the year at the latest. Information serving as a basis for the strategy will be available at the end of November at best, she said.

She noted that vaccination would not be mandatory but it would be free of charge for citizens.

The priority groups for vaccination and any special recommendations will be included in the strategy once the details of individual vaccines, including storage and supply chain requirements, are known.

STA, 13 November 2020 - A total of 38 Covid-19 patients died in Slovenia on Thursday. 1,508 new coronavirus infections were confirmed in 5,762 tests, a drop from 1,925 the day before when more tests were performed, show fresh official data. The number of hospitalisations dropped slightly.

There are currently 1,199 patients in hospital compared to 1,210 on Wednesday, of whom 200 are in intensive care, the same as the day before. A total of 79 were discharged home on Thursday, the government announced on Twitter.

Also today - Slovenia's New Covid Restrictions Come into Force, Longer Travel Red List

The national death toll currently stands at 724, according to the tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The rolling 14-day average of infections per 100,000 residents has fallen to 948. The share of positive tests was 26.2%.

Slovenia has so far confirmed 52,378 cases, of which just under 20,000 are currently active.

The R value remains below 1, meaning "that ten newly infected persons pass on the virus to merely nine other persons", government spokesman Jelko Kacin told today's daily briefing, adding that changes in the testing protocol had not affected the R value and its decline.

He pointed out that the positivity rate was more than 2 percentage points lower than the day before.

The rolling 14-day average per 100,000 residents in the Pomurska region in the north-east remains cause for concern, with the figure standing at 1,493. The situation in the northern Gorenjska region has slightly improved, with the average falling below 1,400 from almost 2,000.

The only other region that has the figure above 1,000 is Koroška. The situation is best in the coastal Obalno-Kraška region (387).

Kacin also pointed out that significantly lower daily case counts were expected on Sunday and Monday, saying that the spread of coronavirus had been slowing down.

When it comes to hospitalisations, the situation is still alarming and shows a delay in new cases translating into hospital admissions, noted Kacin, also warning that the virus had been spreading in care homes.

He highlighted there was enough beds, but a shortage of staff trained to treat Covid-19 patients remained a problem.

Moreover, the number of patients with life-threatening Covid-19 at UKC Ljubljana is growing, he said.

The spokesman urged citizens to heed prevention protocols especially in the light of coming Saint Martin's day celebrations, which he said should be restricted to family members.

Matjaž Jereb, the head of the intensive care unit at UKC Ljubljana's infectious diseases department, said that the situation in hospitals was indeed critical and it was not the time to loosen restrictions.

Jereb, who is also the national ICU beds coordinator, pointed out that Slovenia had boosted the number of hospital beds, including ICU beds.

"In the past week, the past fortnight, we've been close to maximum capacity," he said, highlighting that Slovenia could provide up to 250 ICU beds and that it had been running low on hospital staff, many of whom, particularly nurses, have been infected with the virus.

In UKC Ljubljana, Slovenia's central hospital, there are currently more than 260 staff members quarantining. Most got infected outside work, according to Jereb.

Projections show that the number of active infections ranges from 17,000 to more than 80,000, he said.

The Covid-19 mortality rate is slightly below 15% in Ljubljana intensive care units, which compares to some 30% in the first epidemic wave, Jereb said, warning that the second wave had not been letting up in regard to hospitalisation figures.

The mortality rate is ten times the mortality rate associated with flu and same goes for the number of ICU patients, he said.

STA, 13 November 2020 - New restrictions concerning public gatherings and border crossing enter into force on Friday as part of efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. The red list of countries has been expanded as well.

All gatherings are banned as of today, unless people who gather are family or members of the same house hold. Until yesterday gatherings were capped to six persons.

While all events are banned, couples will now be able to wed with a special permission from the Ministry of Labour, the Family and Social Affairs. They will not be allowed to have a reception, though.

A new government decree, which takes effect on Monday, narrows exemptions from mandatory quarantine for people crossing the border into Slovenia,

Most importantly for Slovenians, a special exemption that allowed owners of property in neighbouring countries to visit for 48 hours without needing to quarantine has been scrapped.

Several exemptions have been narrowed, for example, 72-hour visits to relatives across the border. This exemption will now apply only to visits to EU and Schengen zone countries.

Cross-border migrant workers will have a 14-hour window to return to Slovenia after going to work in a neighbouring country.

Some types of emergency business and personal visits were exempt from mandatory quarantine for stays of up to 48 hours. This time window has now been narrowed to 12 hours and only emergency business visits are allowed.

Persons who arrive from a red-listed country will still be able to end quarantine prematurely if they get tested, but from today they will need to quarantine for at least five days.

They can still avoid quarantining if they produce a negative test on arrival that was not done more than 48 hours ago.

The vast majority of the world's countries are on Slovenia's red list of countries, and there are some changes concerning European countries.

The entire Italy, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Poland are now on the red list, along with the majority of Denmark (with the exception of Faeroe Islands and Greenland), Lithuania (except Utena), Sweden (except Västernorrland), individual regions of Greece and one Estonian region, Ida-Viru.

Spain remains on the red list but the Canary Islands have been moved to orange.

All our stories on Slovenia and coronavirus. The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia. Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

STA, 12 November 2020 - Employers advertised just over 13,600 job vacancies in the third quarter of the year, which is 2,500 more than in the second quarter, the Statistic Office said on Thursday. The number of occupied posts was up by more than 3,000. Meanwhile, the Employment Service has so far paid out EUR 312.4 million to help avoid layoffs.

The Statistics Office collected data on job vacancies at the end of August, just between both waves of the coronavirus crisis, when business activity picked up again.

Compared to the previous quarter, demand for new labour force was up in most activities, and was the highest in construction and manufacturing (almost 2,900 job vacancies in each), followed by retail, where almost 1,800 job vacancies were advertised.

Seasonally adjusted data show that there were little more than 766,000 occupied posts in Slovenia in the third quarter or 3,000 more than in the second.

In the second quarter, when some companies had to close their doors or reduce their activities for almost two months, the number of occupied posts dropped by almost 30,000.

However, thanks to the state subsidies for shorter working time, furlough and compensation for quarantine, 300,000 jobs were preserved, according to Labour Minister Janez Cigler Kralj.

In the third quarter, the number of occupied posts started rising again, except in manufacturing, financial and insurance services, and in other business activities.

In year-on-year comparison, the number of jobs dropped by almost 8,000.

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STA, 12 November 2020 - Slovenia will tighten its lockdown for two weeks in a bid to reduce the number of daily new coronavirus cases. Public transport will shut down and all non-essential stores will close. Schools and kindergartens will remain shut down. All gatherings except of persons in the same household will be completely banned.

Some of the measures will take effect on Friday, while others will be put in place on Saturday or Monday, government officials told the press on Thursday.

The narrowing of exemptions for crossing the border without quarantining will take effect on Monday, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said.

Most notably, those with property in Croatia will no longer be able to spend 48 hours in Croatia and return without quarantining.

Another exemption that will be narrowed is visits up to 72 hours of relatives. This will be restricted to EU and Schengen Zone countries only. "In short, this means no more weekends in Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia," Hojs said.

The blanket ban on gatherings, taking effect on Friday, means that persons who are not relatives or from the same households will not be allowed to socialise at all. At present, gatherings of more than six persons are prohibited.

Public transportation will be shut down on Monday, according to Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec.

Health Minister Tomaž Gantar said the existing measures had been partially successful as the growth in new coronavirus cases went from exponential to linear, but they were not enough the reduce the baseline number of new cases.

"I firmly believe that without [new measures] we cannot speak about a return to normal life," Gantar said.

The new measures return Slovenia to roughly the spring level of lockdown, when all but essential stores were closed, public transportation was suspended and students were doing remote schooling.

Most stores have already been closed for three weeks and all schools are currently in remote mode, but limited non-essential retail, for example at jewellery stores, is still possible.

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STA – 12 November, 2020 - A total of 1,925 new coronavirus infections were confirmed in 6,767 tests in Slovenia on Wednesday, which means a positivity rate of 28.45%, down one percentage point from yesterday, government data show. A record 41 Covid-19 patients died.

Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press again that the situation was calming down. Fewer tests were conducted yesterday and 274 fewer infections confirmed than the day before.

Why Are Slovenia’s Property Prices Rising During Epidemic?

He repeated the latest figures were similar to those from the peak of the second wave and that yesterday's and today's figures were the result of a new system of testing.

The reproduction number continues to drop and stands at 0.91, which means that one infected person infects less than one person, Kacin said.

Looking at the situation in Slovenia's dozen regions over the past two weeks, Kacin said a rise in new infections had been recorded only in the Podravska and Goriška regions, while in Gorenjska the number was dropping very fast. A slight drop can also be seen in the Pomurska region.

In the past week, Goriška, Zasavska and Pomurska saw a rise in new infections.

In Ljubljana, 221 new infections were detected yesterday, which Kacin said was a relatively low number. In the second largest city, Maribor, 81 tests came back positive.

A total of 1,210 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, which is 18 more than the day before. The number of patients in intensive care rose by two to 200, while 93 were discharged home.

A total of 31 patients died in hospitals, and ten in care homes, Kacin said.

Hospitalisations have been rising since the start of the month but in the last third of this week, the situation has been stabilising, Kacin said.

According to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, there are currently 20,151 active cases in the country, down 2.7% from the day before. The average 14-day incidence is now 961 per 100,000 people.

So far, 50,864 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the country, while the death toll is at 686.

A new outbreak has been reported from the northern Primorska region with 22 of the 270 employees infected at the German-owned Bovec company Mahle Electric Drives.

The company management took measures on the spot including banning socialising during breaks and locking up coffee machines. All employees will be tested, expectedly on Friday.

Several care homes in the region are also battling with infections, as are similar facilities across the country.

All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia

STA, 12 November 2020 - The newspaper Delo examines the reasons for what it describes as "immunity of the safe property market" in the headline of Thursday's front-page commentary as prices of residential properties keep increasing in Slovenia and Europe against the expectations and despite the crisis.

Despite the 7.9% contraction in the country's GDP in the first half of the year and the economic crisis, demand for residential properties remains strong, while demand for hotel, hospitality and office properties is decreasing, the paper notes.

"Most on the demand side are those who spent the spring lockdown in small homes (...), while there are also individuals and businesses with a lot of capital who are looking for safe investment opportunities. An additional stimulus is negative interest rates that may drop further in the future."

The paper goes on to say that despite the demand being increased by some empty properties due to the crisis in the tourism sector, the shortage of real estate in Slovenia for the past 20 years has been such those empty properties do not make much difference.

"What is more, owners of empty properties are now even willing to wait for the country and international space to reopen before they return to rental business.

"Ownership is a major priority for Slovenians as it is, while now it appears to be supplemented with investments in real estate. These will certainly be driven by a chronic shortage thereof.

"It may be an indirect consequence of negative interest rates, or the trends may also be linked to the Europeans being culturally not in favour of venture investment and relying on conservative ways of personal and business finance management."

STA, 11 November 2020 - Slovenia recorded 2,217 new coronavirus cases for Tuesday, more than double the figure the day before, and a record 40 fatalities as Health Minister Tomaž Gantar reiterated his call for tighter restrictions.

The latest statistics were first revealed by Gantar on Twitter, wondering if anyone still doubted that stricter measures were not urgent. "This is about people's health," he said ahead of Thursday's government session where restrictions are to be reviewed.

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A near record 7,515 tests were performed yesterday, which puts the positivity rate at 29.5% after 24% reported for Monday. This was after a new recommendation was issued by the Health Ministry to test everyone suspected of having caught the virus again.

Gantar, who has been calling in recent days for a return to the type of lockdown seen in the spring, said the number of infections was falling too slowly, with one in 22 people infected. The demand for beds is growing, healthcare staff are exhausted, he wrote in his Twitter correspondences.

Data released by the government show a total of 1,192 patients were hospitalised with Covid-19 yesterday, including 202 in intensive care, which is 21 and six more the day before, respectively. Ninety-six patients were discharged home.

Commenting at the daily press briefing, government spokesman Jelko Kacin argued that the trends continued to improve and that despite higher absolute numbers nothing had really changed from Monday while the spike in infections was due to a change in testing strategy.

He said the reproduction number kept improving, offering graphs showing there had been no change in hospital admissions in the past two days and that the daily increase in admissions, discounting discharges and fatalities, was lower than days ago.

He did say though that the situation was worsening in the north east of the country, with the average 14-day incidence in Pomurje already exceeding 1,500 per 100,000 residents. Patients from there were moved to hospitals in other parts of the country.

However, Gantar argued earlier that until there were more admissions to hospitals than releases, it made sense to tighten restrictions for a short period.

The monitoring of the implementation of existing measures is being conducted, but he believes this is not enough given the gravity of the situation. "Better a short tightening that also enables a faster transition to normality."

The minister believes that all non-vital activities should be limited for a two-week period, including public transport. None of the existing restrictions should be softened, which also entails remote education for two more weeks.

Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek has in turn argued that this is a health as well as an economic crisis, meaning compromises are necessary when deciding on measures. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also appealed on the government not to adopt new restrictions in order to protect jobs.

The latest infections put Slovenia's coronavirus case count to just short of 49,000 with 20,712 cases still active, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org. The rolling 14-day average of infections per 100,000 residents has fallen to 988.

The death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 645.

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