STA, 22 December 2021 - The mandatory quarantine regime in Slovenia has been tightened up, as the government decided at a correspondence session on Wednesday to make people who have received a booster jab the only exception to mandatory self-isolation after a high-risk contact. The new scheme, recommended by epidemiologists, will apply from Thursday.

The proposal for the revised regime was presented on Tuesday by Slovenia's chief epidemiologist Mario Fafangel, who said that the current "two-tier quarantine system" was unsustainable and should be simplified to allow no exceptions except for those already jabbed with a booster.

The government has therefore heeded the warnings of experts with the National Institute of Public Health.

Epidemiologists would also like to see the updated Covid pass mandate to enter into force as soon as possible, that is for Slovenia to introduce a time limit on the Covid certificate for those vaccinated under the basic vaccination regime. The government decided last week to limit the validity of the Covid pass to 270 days from 1 February.

According to government data, a total of 411,198 people have received a booster dose so far.

STA, 22 December 2021 - In the wake of Omicron concerns the government has decided to impose a density limit in shops by allowing entry to one customer per every ten square metres of available floor space. The rule will be effective from Thursday.

Under the decision, made on Wednesday, shops are also required to put up a sign at their entrance informing customers of the maximum density limit, said the Government Communication Office (UKOM).

The ten square metre rule is in line with recommendations given by the Health Ministry's Covid advisory group to step up preventive measures in light of the expected rapid spread of the Omicron variant and Slovenia's low vaccination rate, UKOM added.

STA, 22 December 2021 - Police have filed criminal complaints against five men from the Gorenjska region and Ljubljana area over cheating in vaccination. One of the men allegedly took the shots for the others to get the Covid pass. The man was remanded in custody, the Kranj Police Department said on Wednesday.

A police investigation has revealed that the suspect got vaccinated at a vaccination centre several times in the last two months, showing the IDs of the four men, who subsequently got the Covid pass.

He had received one shot for each of three men before he was arrested and had appointments for the second shots. For the fourth man, he had received both shots already.

Together with the two shots he has received in his own name, he has been vaccinated seven times and was apprehended as he was about to receive the eighth shot.

The man was not paid much for the service that may have consequences for his health, which is why police suspect the four took advantage of the man's distress and personal circumstances for their own benefit.

Taking jabs in somebody else's name or presenting fake Covid certificates carries a sentence of up to three years in prison, police said.

Primož Donoša, head of the Kranj crime investigators, said all five persons were suspected of the same crime, i.e. certification of untrue contents. All five suspects are Slovenian citizens, with the four who did not get vaccinated aged between 30 and 50.

"Inquiries so far show we have never handled such a case before, definitely not in Gorenjska and I don't think in Slovenia either," said Donoša.

The police concluded their investigation last week before referring the case to the prosecution. It was opened based on a tip-off and was conducted in cooperation with the vaccination centre where the man got the jabs and which prevented him getting his eighth.

Lilijana Gantar Žura, the head of the Kranj health community centre, which performs vaccinations at the Kranj army barracks, confirmed they cooperated with the police in the investigation.

She said ID and health insurance cards were being strictly checked at the vaccination point, but they may have missed something when the vaccination centre was very busy.

Gantar Žura said she personally was not blaming the man who got vaccinated, but those who abused the man's distress and she believed they should be punished more severely.

Radio Slovenija has reported that the man who got the jabs for other people was allegedly a drug addict.

STA, 21 December - Omicron variant cases have been confirmed across Slovenia, except for the western Goriška region, but it is only a matter of time before it is detected nationwide, the country's chief epidemiologist Mario Fafangel said on Tuesday, noting local transmission of Omicron. Epidemiologists propose a revised mandatory quarantine regime.

A total of 51 Omicron infections have been confirmed until this morning in all the regions but Goriška, said Fafangel, the chief epidemiologist with the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The figure is bound to keep increasing, and what is actually important is reports of community transmission of the Omicron strain, meaning individuals who have not been travelling abroad recently or been in contact with someone who did have been infected with the variant, he noted.

Even though the Goriška region has not yet confirmed an Omicron case, it is only a matter of time before this happens, as the strain is highly virulent and the area has been reporting an increase in new coronavirus cases. It is very likely that the variant is therefore present across the country, he said.

Fafangel mentioned that the data collected so far suggested that Omicron caused a milder case of Covid-19, warning this should not lull people into a false sense of security. "The most important thing is to act in time. This is more important than waiting for 100% data before doing so," he said.

He stressed that measures must be taken to the number of infections, as epidemiologists can no longer distinguish between suspected and non-suspected omicron infections. In fact, genome sequencing results, and therefore information on the variant, almost always reach epidemiologists too late, he added.

"From the epidemiological point of view, a variant that is significantly more virulent is usually worse even if it transpires that it is a bit milder," he said, noting the burden highly virulent strains put on healthcare.

In light of these developments, epidemiologists have proposed to the government to make people who have received a booster jab the only exception to a mandatory quarantine scheme that imposes self-isolation after a high-risk contact.

The current "two-tier quarantine system" is unsustainable and should be transformed into a single system, Fafangel said, referring to an umbrella quarantine regime and a special scheme dedicated to a risk of Omicron infection which is without exceptions.

Epidemiologists would also like to see the updated Covid pass mandate to enter into force as soon as possible, that is for Slovenia to introduce a time limit on the Covid certificate for those vaccinated under the basic vaccination regime. The government decided last week to limit the validity of the Covid pass to 270 days from 1 February.

Fafangel called on everyone to get vaccinated, including with booster doses. "Protection against the symptomatic course of the [Covid-19] disease has declined when it comes to primary vaccination schemes.

"Protection is lower with both vector and mRNA vaccines. We know that a booster dose is still a good solution, it restores or even boosts protection against both the symptomatic course of the disease and hospitalisation."

Fafangel also urged people to heed protective measures, including during the coming holidays. He proposed spending holidays in bubbles and self-testing. "This can significantly reduce the risk. We won't stop the spread, but we can at least control it," he added.

The first Omicron infections were confirmed in Slovenia last week in a group of people from central Slovenia.

All the latest data on covid and Slovenia

STA, 20 December 2021 - The Information Commissioner has launched an investigation against the prime minister's office in regard to the vaccination promotion letters citizens received from Prime Minister Janez Janša. The office will have to explain the way personal data was obtained in order to address the letters and the legal basis used for this.

The inquiry is based on the cornerstones of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation under which any processing of personal data must be lawful, fair and transparent, said Information Commissioner Mojca Prelesnik on Monday.

The procedure, launched on Friday, comes after the data protection watchdog received numerous reports by citizens inquiring about the legal framework used by the prime minister's office to access their personal data to send the letters, which were addressed to specific individuals.

The large number of reports reflects a high level of awareness of the importance of personal data protection among individuals, said Prelesnik.

Citizens have recently received letters in which Janša thanked those who have been vaccinated for getting jabbed as well as urged the unvaccinated ones to reconsider this.

"Let this be your free but responsible choice," he wrote ahead of the nationwide campaign Vaccination Days that is currently underway and aims to boost vaccination rates amid Omicron concerns.

Responding to the inquiry, the prime minister's office told the STA the letters had been sent to all adults in Slovenia without any kind of selection or access to any records. To well-meaning people, Janša's reasons for such a gesture are clear in the letter itself, it added.

The office said that "there is no doubt about what the coming weeks will hold for us if we continue to be the sixth least vaccinated country in the European Union".

It attached forecasts for the spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Europe which show that the strain could become dominant in January, with rising numbers of the infected followed by higher hospital admission rates.

STA, 19 December 2021 - A campaign aimed at boosting the Covid-19 vaccination rate in Slovenia will take place from Sunday to Thursday, with 62 vaccination centres across the country working overtime and Civil Protection and Red Cross staff providing free transportation.

As part of the Vaccination Days, vaccination centres will be open from 8am to 8pm, with vaccine being available at one location in each statistical region also at night, from 8pm to 8am.

Night vaccination centres will be open in the Nova Gorica, Izola, Brežice and Celje general hospitals, in the Sežana, Postojna, Novo Mesto, Slovenj Gradec, Murska Sobota and Maribor community health centres, in the Ljubljana and Maribor university medical centres and in the Golnik Hospital.

With the exception of children aged 5-11, who need a paediatrician to be present during vaccination, there will be no need to register in advance. People will be able to choose what type of Covid-19 vaccine they get, said Health Minister Janez Poklukar.

Mobile units will also be present in the field, the minister said, adding that in Tolmin, a special telephone number will be available for residents to arrange free transportation to the vaccination site.

Poklukar will officially open the nation-wide campaign today by taking a booster shot at the Bled Community Health Centre.

STA, 17 December 2021 - Those who have been fully vaccinated will see the validity of their Covid pass reduced from a year to nine months from February under a regulation adopted by the Slovenian government on Friday. A booster shot extends the validity of the pass indefinitely.

The decision is based on a recommendation by the advisory group on immunisation and is in line with guidance issued by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), which said booster shots are needed to improve protection, the Government Communications Office said.

The decision, which applies only to those over 18, means that the fully vaccinated - those who have received two shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines or one shot of the Janssen vaccine - will enjoy the benefits of the Covid pass for 270 days.

But if they get a booster shot, whereby the booster must be an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna, their Covid pass will be valid indefinitely.

The same applies to those who have recovered from coronavirus and been vaccinated twice after that.

Those who have recovered from the virus or have recovered and received one shot of a vaccine will have Covid passes valid for 180 days

STA, 17 December - Ahead of the Vaccination Days campaign, health authorities have released an overview of adult vaccination rates or shares of over 18s who have recovered from Covid-19 by municipality. The ski resort of Kranjska Gora has the highest rate of fully-jabbed or reconvalescent adults, while the lowest share was recorded in the tiny municipality of Zavrč.

!! During Vaccination Days your local health centre will be offering vaccinations for longer periods of the day, from 19 – 23 December, and some places will also be doing it overnight !!

From the start of the vaccination rollout in Slovenia through 8 December this year, the Kranjska Gora municipality in the north-west managed to push its vaccination or reconvalescence rate among adults to nearly 80%.

In second place is the Vipava municipality in the west (some 79%), followed by Idrija (77%), an area some 40 kilometres west of Ljubljana.

The lowest rate was recorded in Zavrč (53%), a tiny municipality in the north-east, situated not far away from Slovenia's oldest town Ptuj. The nearby municipality Sveti Andraž v Slovenskih Goricah has only a slightly higher rate - 55%.

All five areas with the lowest shares are relatively small municipalities located in eastern Slovenia, whereas most of the five municipalities with the highest rates are situated in the west.

Data on the rates in question has been released by the National Institute of Public Health ahead of Vaccination Days, a nationwide campaign to be held between 19 and 23 December and aimed at boosting vaccination rates. The figures according to municipalities are available at sta.si/qLvsVQ.

STA, 16 December - A total of 1,345 new coronavirus infections were reported in Slovenia for Wednesday, down by 20% week-on-week. The number of currently active cases has fallen below 20,000, show fresh official figures.

Hospitalisations continued to decrease as there were 776 patients in hospital this morning, down by 28 on the day before. The number of those in need of intensive care was up though - by six to 237, show government data.

According to an estimate by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), there are now 19,860 active cases in the country, down by 771 in a day.

Both the 7-day average of new cases and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 population keep steadily declining - the first has decreased by 49 to 1,258 and the latter by 37 to 942.

The test positivity rate stood at some 27% yesterday, a weekly drop of about one percentage point.

All the latest data on Slovenia and COVID

STA, 14 December 2021 - Crime investigators visited the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food (NLZOH) on Tuesday to interview director Tjaša Žohar Čretnik over verification of rapid antigen tests bought by the state late last year, according to the news portal Necenzurirano.

The portal obtained confirmation about the police visiting the premises from the NLZOH promotion and marketing department, which could not provide further information as the investigation is ongoing.

The portal says it is not clear whether any other NLZOH official except for Žohar Čretnik has been interviewed by the police.

The newspaper Finance quotes unofficial sources in reporting online that crime investigators have also visited Majbert Pharm, the company picked in December last year to supply test kits used for voluntary mass testing.

The tests were verified by the NLZOH but amid allegations of their not being up to standard the procurement has also been scrutinised by the opposition-led parliamentary inquiry looking into the government's handling of coronavirus outbreak.

In her testimony before the inquiry, Žohar Čretnik said the verification of the tests was based on WHO standards and she denied the allegation the lab sacked a senior microbiologist for speaking out about the tests and the verification being inadequate.

The microbiologist, Metka Paragi, told the inquiry the tests did not meet technical requirements but still did the NLZOH confirm their suitability and recommend for the government to use them.

Similarly, Viktorija Tomič, the head of the Health Ministry's task force for rapid tests, told the parliamentary inquiry the tests did not meet technical criteria to be used for screening.

The NLZOH told the STA it was actively cooperating in the investigation launched by the National Bureau of Investigation today.

All the requested documentation will be handed over to the investigators voluntarily, in line with a court's order, the national laboratory said, adding that it would keep cooperating with all competent authorities if need be. The NLZOH cannot comment on the content of the investigation at the moment, it noted.

The chair of the parliamentary inquiry, Robert Pavšič from the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), welcomed the investigation, saying that the system was working.

He is pleased "that things have moved on, that it will finally be established what is true, what is not true, what is criminal and what is permissible", noting that the inquiry can investigate only political responsibility in the matter, so other institutions should do the rest.