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STA, 13 October 2020 - A total of 398 people tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday, when 3,308 tests were performed, which means that the positivity rate remains high at 12%. Four persons died of Covid-19, government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said on Tuesday.

There are currently 180 people in hospital, up by eight from yesterday, of whom 32 need intensive care compared to 26 yesterday, according to according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The number of active cases in the country rose by 8.7% to 3,744, and the number of infections recorded in Slovenia so far now stands at 9,231.

The virus continues to spread in healthcare institutions and care homes. Several members of the staff in the Celje general hospital tested positive yesterday, the hospital confirmed for the STA.

Among those infected are 14 nurses and three doctors who worked at the infectious diseases unit, where Covid-19 patients are being treated. The hospital said this would strongly affect work at the hospital.

One patient who was treated at the unit caught the virus too and brought it to the Vojnik care home, according to the newspaper Večer. Two of her room mates were tested along with 17 staff who were in contact with her but the results of the tests are not in yet.

In the northern Koroška region, where the share of active cases is among the highest in the country, 14 new infections were confirmed on Monday, including at the Črneče unit of the Koroško care home, which has had no infections for a while.

Now seven residents and two members of the staff tested positive and two more staff members are quarantining.

The Slovenj Gradec unit of the care home reported of its first infection on Sunday. Currently, four residents are infected.

The situation in health institutions in the region is deteriorating and the Slovenj Gradec community centre suspended its dental services this week.

Koroška currently has 185 active cases, which is 0.262% of the population. The only region with a higher share is Gorenjska in the north-west with 0.266% of infected population, data provided by Covid-19 Sledilnik show.

The Public Administration Ministry also started publishing data on the functioning of the #OstaniZdrav contact tracing app today.

After receiving a green light from the information commissioner, the ministry started publishing the data on the number of TAN codes issued. The National Institute for Public Health issues the code to people infected with coronavirus, who enter it in the app.

In the last 14 days, 455 codes were issued, and 282 were entered in the app.

According to government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin, more than 130,000 people have so far downloaded the app, which is 10% of all mobile phones users.

The Health Ministry meanwhile created a website that gives an overview of the number of Covid-19 patients in the country and beds available. This is to help the dispatching services and other institutions coordinate the patients.

Govt says situation calls for additional restrictive measures

STA, 13 October 2020 - Slovenia recorded more than 120 coronavirus infections per 100,000 resident in the last two weeks, and 180 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals, including more than 30 in intensive care, which means all the criteria for activating additional restrictive measures are fulfilled, government spokesperson Jelko Kacin announced on Tuesday.

The government will decide what measures from the last, third package of measures in the orange phase to take at Wednesday's session, he added.

These include lockdown of individual municipalities or regions, a general ban on visits to hospitals and other institutions, shutting down of bars and restaurants as well as gyms for non-professionals.

The government may also introduce a one-client rule for hairdressers and beauty salons, while events, religious ceremonies and weddings could be banned in certain municipalities or regions. All non-essential health and dental services could be suspended.

The government may opt for only some of these measures, according to Kacin.

The government guidelines for containing the second coronavirus wave are based on the parameters for the so-called orange and red phases, with respective measures being envisaged for each phase.

The parameters are the number of newly confirmed infections per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days, the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients and the number of patients who require ventilation.

The cabinet will meet this afternoon to discuss the situation with the Health Ministry task forces and prepare for tomorrow's government session at which new measures are expected to be adopted.

A total of 397 people tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday, when 3,308 tests were performed, and one Slovenian tested positive abroad, which means that the positivity rate remains high at 12%. There are currently 180 people in hospital, of whom 32 need intensive care.

Four persons infected with Covid-19 died, while 18 were discharged from hospital. In the last two weeks, Slovenia had 179 infections per 100,000 people, Kacin said.

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STA, 12 October 2020 - A total of 169 people tested positive for coronavirus as 1,404 tests were performed in Slovenia on Sunday, while two people died, government spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Monday. Despite the numbers being lower than in the previous days, the share of positive tests remains high, at 12%.

A total of 149 patients were in hospital, 26 requiring intensive care, on what was a Sunday with the biggest increase in daily cases since testing began in March.

This brings the total number of cases to 8,832, with as many as 3,444 being active infection as this moment. A total of 169 people have died.

Talking to the press, Mateja Logar of the Infectious Diseases Clinic, said that elderly with underlying illnesses are no longer the only Covid-19 patients in intensive care. Younger, fit and healthy people have also been admitted for intensive care treatment.

Kacin said that hospitals have managed to respond to the increase in those requiring hospitalisation, but the numbers are expected to go up in the coming days.

Logar said that UKC Ljubljana, the country's biggest hospital, is getting ready to set up an additional Covid-19 ward, most likely at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which was already the case in the spring. Patients of the department of Infectious Diseases without Covid-19 have meanwhile already been moved off-site, to the Peter Držaj Hospital in the Šiška borough.

Data from tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org show that 30 of the latest infections were health staff and 36 were aged care home residents and three staff at those facilities.

One of the emerging hotspots is a care home for blind, visually impaired and aged residents in Škofja Loka, north-west of Ljubljana, where 18 residents have been infected.

The facility's director, Silva Košnjek, said they were running out of space to isolate everyone, and were working with the local authorities to find an appropriate space to move the infected outside the home to prevent further transmissions.

The first infection entered the home via a patient who got infected at Jesenice hospital in late September, but they were not forewarned by the hospital so the resident moved freely around the home.

The Jesenice hospital said it did not know of the infection because the woman was discharged after they detected the first infection with another patient.

Reports of new infections are coming from many other care homes across the country, including at the Predvor facility in the north-west, which has seven residents and two staff infected.

Care homes in Slovenj Gradec in the north and Celje in the north-east also reported their first infections.

On Sunday, infections were confirmed in 65 municipalities. Most of the cases, 34, were recorded in the capital Ljubljana, where 0.197% of the residents are actively infected.

Črna na Koroškem in the north remains the municipality with the highest per capita infection rate, at 1.097%, followed by nearby Mežica (0.674%), Šentjernej in the south-east (0.629%) and Prevalje in the north (0.573%).

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STA, 11 October 2020 - A total of 2,956 tests for the novel coronavirus were performed in Slovenia on Saturday, resulting in a record 411 new daily infections, official government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin announced on his Twitter profile.

According to data from the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, a total of 158 persons are currently hospitals in Slovenia for Covid-19, which is also a new record.

Out of those patients 27 are in intensive care units, while eight persons were discharged from hospital yesterday.

The total number of confirmed cases is 8,663 out of 257,339 tests, of which 3,314 remain active. The 14-day incidence is 159 new cases per 100,000 residents, up 8.3%. The death toll has remained at 167.

New infections were confirmed on Saturday in 105 out of the 212 municipalities in Slovenia, the most in Ljubljana (70), followed by Škofja Loka (21), Kranj (19) and Grosuplje and Sevnica with 11 each.

The highest share of actively infected persons in total population is still recorded in Črna na Koroškem in north (1.01%).

The most of the new infections were detected in the 35-44 age group (82), which is followed by the 45-54 group with 79 cases.

Commenting on the growing numbers, Kacin said that it was time to reflection, solidarity and consistent respect of the restrictions and recommendations of the National Public Health Institute.

Slovenia's Covid-19 green list getting shorter

STA, 11 October 2020 - The government has decided to tighten requirements for arrivals as many countries around Europe continue to post record daily increases in coronavirus numbers. As of 12 October, only four countries will remain on its green list, which means no quarantine is required.

Only travellers from Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Uruguay can enter without any health restrictions starting on Monday after all six European countries that have been on the green list so far have been moved to orange or red.

The red list has significantly expanded and now includes Belgium, Czechia, Iceland, Luxembourg and Spain. Belgium and Spain, for example, only had individual regions red-listed so far.

On the other hand, arrivals from Austria and Croatia will be smoother. While three Austrian states are currently on the red list, only Vienna remains red-listed after Monday. Two Croatian regions have been moved from red to orange as well.

Italy remains on the orange list, according to a decree that the government adopted on Saturday.

Passengers arriving from countries on the red or orange lists must quarantine as a rule, but there are many exemptions and often a negative Covid-19 test suffices.

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STA, 10 October 2020 - Out of a record 4,362 coronavirus tests conducted in Slovenia on Friday, a total of 380 came back positive, an 8.7% positivity rate, show fresh official data. On what was a fourth day in a row that the daily case count has exceeded 300, hospitalisations continued to rise and two Covid-19-related fatalities were confirmed.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital increased by nine to 147, whereas the total of those in intensive care remained roughly the same at 21. A total of 14 requires ventilator support and six persons were discharged home.

Two persons infected with coronavirus died, raising the national death toll to 167.

In six municipalities, more than ten new infections were detected. Most latest cases were again confirmed in the capital Ljubljana (69), which also records the greatest number of active cases, 506.

Friday tests confirmed 16 new infections in health workers, 15 in care home staff and eight in residents of care homes.

So far, Slovenia has seen 8,252 coronavirus infections. Currently, there are 3,061 active cases in the country, according to data from the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

Slovenia's coronavirus incidence rate, the number of new cases per 100,000 residents in a fortnight, was 147 on Friday, up 6.8% on Thursday. The latest figure exceeds the threshold that is expected to trigger new restrictions according to government plans.

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STA, 9 October 2020 - A total of 363 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in 3,682 tests on Thursday, the third day in a row that the case count has exceeded 300. Four people with Covid-19 died, the highest daily figure since the start of the epidemic, the latest government data show.

Slovenia now has a total of 7,879 confirmed cases, of which 2,865 are active, according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik. The four new deaths bring the death toll to 165.

Measured in new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks, a key benchmark used in the EU, Slovenia is now at 137, just shy of the threshold that will trigger new restrictions according to government plans.

The situation in hospitals continues to deteriorate as well. There are 138 Covid-19 patients currently in hospital, up from 131 yesterday, while the number of patients in intensive care rose by one to 22. Twelve are currently on ventilators.

"The situation in hospitals is approaching critical," Jelko Kacin, the government's Covid-19 spokesman, told the press today.

He also said Slovenia was preparing for "even more extensive testing" and currently had no problems either processing the tests or securing the requisite testing materials.

There are no testing delays since labs conducting analyses are sufficiently staffed and work around the clock, according to Kacin.

New cases were reported in almost half of all Slovenian municipalities. The biggest increases were in Ljubljana (74), Kranj (19) and Velenje (14).

In terms of the share of active cases in the population, Črna na Koroškem stands out with almost 1.2% of its residents classified as active.

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STA, 8 October 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša called a session of the National Security Council for Friday afternoon after a record 387 people tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. Apart from the coronavirus situation, the session, scheduled for 3pm, is also to discuss illegal migrations.

In total, 7,507 have tested positive since the pandemic reached Slovenia in the spring and 160 people have died. Data for Wednesday show some 2,700 active infections in Slovenia.

The share of positive tests has exceeded 10% for the first time on Wednesday and the virus is spreading fast among school and healthcare staff.

Today, the government adopted new restrictive measures, capping the number of people in gatherings to 10 as of tomorrow. Gatherings of up to 500 people will be possible only with the approval of the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ).

Food and drinks will no longer be served at events, said Interior Minister Aleš Hojs, adding that the police will also conduct strict oversight of compliance with new gathering restrictions at weekly Friday protests.

Moreover, bars and restaurants will only be allowed to serve customers sitting down and observing a personal distance of 1.5 metres, unless they are members of the same household.

The National Security Council session was called a week after Hojs said that the migrant smuggling market was in full swing, also adding that the Interior Ministry still wanted to give the military police powers to help out along the border.

Talking to public broadcaster TV Slovenija tonight, Hojs said the ministry realised "the Schengen code allows some other state bodies to control borders as well". The ministry explained subsequently that this involved the Financial Administration, inspectorates as well as the military.

Between 1 January and 15 September, the police have detected 11,117 attempts at illegal border crossings, compared to 10,906 in the same period last year.

Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children. Each week we’ll take an article and post it here as a Slovene-English dual text.

Z novimi ukrepi nad novi koronavirus

With new measures for the novel coronavirus

Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner & G Translate

Novi koronavirus se vse bolj širi. Vlada je zato pripravila nov nabor ukrepov, s katerimi želi preprečiti, da v bolnišnicah ne bi mogli pomagati vsem, ki potrebujejo zdravljenje.

The new coronavirus is spreading more and more. The government has therefore come up with a new set of measures to prevent hospitals from not being able to helping everyone in need of treatment.

Premier Janez Janša pravi, da bodo še naprej iskali načine, kako zajeziti širjenje virusa tako, da bo to čim manj prizadelo naše vsakdanje življenje.

Prime Minister Janez Janša says that they will continue to look for ways to curb the spread of the virus so that it will affect our daily lives as little as possible.

A takih ukrepov ni več veliko na voljo, saj že sedaj uporabljajo skoraj vse.

But such measures are no longer available, as they are already used by almost everyone.

A če se bo število okužb še povečevalo, bo vlada morala razglasiti epidemijo. To bi znova pomenilo strožje ukrepe.

But if the number of infections continues to rise, the government will have to declare an epidemic. This would again mean stricter measures.

Napovedal je, da bo vlada v prihodnjih dneh omejila strežbo v gostinskih lokalih, omejila število oseb v zaprtih javnih prostorih glede na velikost prostora (denimo v trgovinah, bankah in podobno) ter omejila zbiranje ljudi na največ deset. Predvidena je tudi prepoved obiskov v domovih za starejše in bolnišnicah, ponekod ta sicer že velja. Ukrepi naj bi začeli veljati v četrtek.

He announced that in the coming days the government will limit the service in restaurants, limit the number of people in enclosed public spaces according to the size of the space (for example in shops, banks and the like) and limit the gathering of people to a maximum of ten. A ban on visits to homes for the elderly and hospitals is also envisaged, but in some places it is already in force. The measures are expected to take effect on Thursday.

Če to ne bo dovolj, bi na voljo ostali le še ukrepi, kot so zapora posameznih občin, zaprtje gostinskih lokalov in športnih dvoran ter ustavitev nenujnih zdravstvenih storitev.

If this is not enough, only measures such as the closure of individual municipalities, the closure of restaurants and sports halls and the cessation of non-essential health services would remain available.

»Če bi število okuženih preseglo 140 na 100 tisoč prebivalcev v štirinajstih dneh ter bi bilo v bolnišnicah več kot 250 bolnikov, od teh več kot 50 na intenzivni negi, bi morali razglasiti epidemijo in sprejeti podobne ukrepe, ki smo jih sprejemali spomladi,« je posvaril.

"If the number of infected people exceeded 140 per 100,000 population in fourteen days and there were more than 250 patients in hospitals, of which more than 50 were in intensive care, we should declare an epidemic and take similar measures that we took in the spring," he said. warned.

Še vedno pa velja, da širjenje virusa lahko pomagamo zaustavljati, če se odgovorno obnašamo. Med najbolj učinkovitimi ukrepi, ki jih že vsi dobro poznamo, so še vedno vzdrževanje razdalje, redno umivanje rok ter kihanje in kašljanje v rokav.

However, it is still true that we can help stop the spread of the virus by behaving responsibly. Among the most effective measures we all already know well are still maintaining distance, washing your hands regularly, and sneezing and coughing into your sleeve.

 Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.

STA, 8 October 2020 - The government has imposed new restrictions following a sharp rise in Slovenia's coronavirus curve, including a ban on gatherings of more than ten people, except for organised events sanctioned by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The ban, which applies to public and private gatherings, will come into effect on Friday, and police will stiffen oversight and fining, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs told the news conference following the cabinet session on Thursday.

Those organising events of up to 500 people, including religious services and sporting events, will need to obtain the go-ahead from the NIJZ, however catering or the serving of food or drinks at those events will no longer be allowed.

Hojs said the reason was that many infections could be linked to various private parties, including weddings.

Hojs answered in the negative when asked whether the police would check on compliance with the ban at private flats, but he did say that the police would be stricter in enforcing the ban, including at Friday's protests.

"Friday's cycling has been one of the most flagrant violations" of the government decree in recent months, said the minister, but could not say how many people have been infected at Friday's protests.

He did say though that Ljubljana was "critical" in terms of the infection rate.

Ljubljana recorded 64 new infections on Wednesday after 60 the day before, and currently has 449 active cases, which puts its infection rate per resident at 0.153%, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

The government today also changed the decree on the providing of goods and services as a result of which guests at bars, cafes and restaurants will only be served at the tables from Friday, except for delivery or take away.

In addition the number of people allowed inside shops, banks, postal and other offices will be limited to one person per 20 square metres, excluding the employees.

This was as Slovenia recorded 387 new coronavirus infections for Wednesday as the rate of positive tests surpassed 10% for the first time. The incidence rate, the number of cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks, climbed to 128.80, from 116 the day before.

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STA, 8 October 2020 - A record 387 Covid-19 tests came back positive on Wednesday, a slight increase from the day before and a new record since the start of the epidemic in March. There were slightly fewer tests performed than the day before, 3,665, with the positivity rate climbing above 10% for the first time, government data, released on Thursday, show.

The number of patients currently in hospital rose from 122 to 131, a new record, despite 15 being discharged from hospital. A total of 21 patients were in intensive care, one fewer than the day before.

One person died, bringing the death toll to 160.

Slovenia now has an estimated 2,426 active cases according to the data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik, up 10% from the day before, out of a total of 7,120 confirmed cases since the start of the epidemic.

New cases were recorded in more than half of Slovenia's municipalities. The capital Ljubljana now has 449 active cases after a daily jump of 64, but several other municipalities registered double-digit increases, including smaller communities such as Domžale, Vrhnika, Škofljica and Škofja Loka.

Of the new cases, 35 were confirmed among health staff, the continuation of a trend that has forced some hospitals to shut down individual departments or cut services due to staff shortages.

In nursing homes, where the virus has started spreading again in recent weeks, there were 13 new cases.

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STA, 8 October 2020 - Germany has added four Slovenian regions, including Ljubljana and its surroundings, on its list of international risk areas. Travellers from these regions must undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Osrednjeslovenska, Zasavska, Gorenjska and Savinjska were added to the quarantine list, the Robert Koch Institute announced on Wednesday evening.

Primorsko-Notranjska and Koroška, sites of major outbreaks respectively in a meat processing plant and a residential home for people with mental disabilities, were on the list before.

This means that six of Slovenia's twelve statistical regions are now considered risk areas by Germany.

Germany's red list is determined by the federal ministries of health, interior and foreign affairs.

The threshold is 50 new confirmed infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days, but other criteria are considered as well.

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